


A Straight Line...

by Shootinbeanies6741



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 01:40:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 42,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9411770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shootinbeanies6741/pseuds/Shootinbeanies6741
Summary: Root and Shaw meet in high school, and attempt to navigate through the minefield of unprecedented attraction and feelings.Will they decide to take a chance on each other, or choose to deny their feelings in hope of a less complicated life?





	1. Root Thoughts

_Dear diary..._

*Deletes text*

Root leans back in her desk chair, her hands remaining on the keys, and stares at the blinking cursor on her computer screen. She slowly begins typing her thoughts as the sentences form in her mind. 

_There is no way in hell I am going to start this with the words 'dear diary', even though I suppose that is essentially what this is._

_Dr. Carmichael suggested I write things that I cannot normally articulate in our sessions, and I'd hate to be anything other than fully cooperative with the good doctor. I wonder if he'd like to know my honest opinion of him? That I find him to be a dull, unintelligent, adulterous creep who stares at his receptionist's ass when he thinks no one is looking._

_I guess it's not really his fault, though. All the dumb, selfish things people do... It's not our fault. No one designed us. We're just an accident. Dr. Carmichael just happens to be a bigger accident than others. Luckily, there are only 2 sessions left before I fulfill the agreement that I made with my mother last month._

_She claimed to be 'worried for my mental health' after I found out she agreed to marry Harold. I simply couldn't wrap my head around her wanted to marry a short, bird-like man in a fancy suit with whom, I've noticed, she has absolutely nothing in common. And I told her that.... along with some more 'colorful' nouns and verbs._

Her lithe fingers with black painted nails danced along the keys with ease. She pauses, gathering her thoughts before continuing. 

_What really gets me, though, is that on top of everything, he has a son. A son in my same fucking class at school. So now, not only am I forced to cohabit a space with Mr. Finch, but also, his lurch of a son, John- whose only interesting trait, if you can even call it that, is that he prefers to be called his middle name, Reese. He is a rich jock who drives a nice car, talks like he's Batman, and has nearly every girl in school falling at his feet. Needless to say, we have nothing in common. (Except maybe the part about girls falling at his feet)._

Root smirks as she types that last sentence, recalling the last few encounters she's had with a sophomore named Kelli who is on the gymnastics team. Not someone that Root would necessarily "date," but could definitely be classified as a quick fix whenever she needed to blow off steam. After shaking away those thoughts and deciding against texting Kelli to meet up, Root goes back to typing her thoughts on the agreement she made with her mother. 

_So, as a compromise, I agreed to 8 sessions with a therapist if she put off the wedding for at least 6 months._

Root removes her hands from her computer and closes her eyes while thinking back on the conversation that she had with her mother about Harold's proposal. 

**"Why in the hell is there a diamond on your finger, Rachel?"  
"Don't use that language, Samantha. And please stop calling me 'Rachel'. I'm your mother, in case you forgot." **

**Root narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms to make certain her mother knew she was not happy.**

**"As long as you insist on calling me Samantha, I will insist on calling you Rachel. If that's a problem, then start calling me 'Root' like I've asked you to for the past two years."**  
**Rachel closed her eyes and sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose.  
"Fine. 'Root'. Harold asked me to marry him, and I said yes."**

**Root knew her mother had probably been lonely these last 6 years, but she never imagined that her tall, elegant, former ballet dancer of a mother would end up actually marrying a dude who was the definition of a hermit.**

**Root would have no explanation for why the next sentence came out of her mouth.**

**"Huh, well maybe the ostrich with a fucked up limp won't walk out on you. No guarantees, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed for you."**

**Root watched as her mother shook her head in exasperation and walked out the front door. It would be 2 days before they spoke to one another again, and then the conversation was only about Root going to talk to someone about her pent up aggression.**

Lacing her fingers together and pushing her palms outward to stretch her arms in front of her, Root returns her attention to the screen and begins typing, choosing to leave out the hurtful things she had said to her mother a few weeks back. 

_I tried explaining this to Dr. Carmichael in our 3rd session. Simply put, I didn't think it made me selfish to not want to live with those people if I didn't absolutely have to. The six months would be the perfect amount of time to allow me to_  
1: start my senior year of high school  
and  
2: turn 18.  
Either way it went, I'd be able to move out before my life really had time to change at all. 

_What I did not expect: my mother allowing Harold and Reese to move in before the wedding._

_And now they want to "bond" with me._

_They want to "talk" to me about things._

_I suppose that’s why the doctor wants me to keep a journal. Maybe he thinks it will take me out of my comfort zone, which is also probably why he keeps encouraging me to take Reese up on his offer to "hang out". But his idea of hanging out involves school sports. I've never even attended a single game since I've been going to this school... Why did he have to be a jock?_

_The doctor is probably right, though, I'll admit. It's just one little game. What's the worst that could happen?_


	2. Shaw's Journal

Shaw stared down at the blank page of her journal, open to the 67th page. Her left hand was resting over her last entry of the black, leather bound book. She began idly doodling in the margin of the other page while she thought back on her previous week. 

This had been her ritual every week for over 5 years now. Every Sunday she would sit down and compile her week into a page of words, phrases, or stories. It created the perfect archive of her life. It was what her father did during his time in the military. 

He explained to Shaw why keeping a journal was important to him one day when she was about 9 years old. He told her it gave him order and kept him organized. He admitted that he was able to write all of the things that he couldn't say out loud a lot of times. 

Shaw didn't understand what he meant until she was 11 years old, standing at his funeral, unable to shed a tear. She couldn't express what she was feeling, because there were no inherent emotions to show. But what she couldn't outwardly express, she could write. Just because the feelings weren't there didn't mean that words weren't, too. Shaw found comfort in writing her thoughts and actions down. So, she continued doing so. Now, 5 and a half years later, she was still writing in the very same journal that her mother bought for her just before her 12th birthday. 

Shaw's doodle in the margin had somehow turned into a constellation. A beautiful setting of a meteor with stars all around, drawn on the off-white paper in black pen. 

She picked her pen up from the margin, and began writing on the top line of the page. As always, the days of the week were immaculately written in cursive, while her daily activities were brief sentences in print.

>   
>  Monday: Tacos for lunch at school.  
>  Away game. Win. 11 assists. Joss- 12 points. Zoe- 8 points.  
>  Mom put leftovers in the microwave for when I made it home. 
> 
> Tuesday: Work at the library after school. Same old, same old: Joss came at 7 to study for Chem test Friday. Zoe never showed, not surprising. 
> 
> Wednesday: Short shift at the library. Helped mom cook dinner. Went out driving after.
> 
> Thursday: Home game. Still undefeated. Coach gave us Friday and Saturday off. 
> 
> Friday: Chem test was a breeze. Stayed at Joss's house. Zoe brought vodka. Cole tried calling. Again. Dude must have thought I was kidding when I said it was a one time thing.
> 
> Saturday: Went to the park. Ran 3 miles. Time: 14 minutes 12 seconds. Vodka must have slowed me down.  
> 

Shaw seemed pleased to end her entry there. She rolled her chair away from her desk, hard enough that the back of the chair bumped into her bed. She glanced around the room, fully content with her surroundings. Her room was sparsely decorated with only a black futon, small, black nightstand, and a desk with a rolling chair.

Instead of standing from her chair, though, she immediately fell to the floor in a push-up stance. She held in the plank position for a full minute before powering through 50 push-ups. Shaw only stopped at 50 to appease her mother, who had shouted from downstairs twice already that dinner was ready. 

Homemade pizza. 

Shaw's stomach growled loudly. Yeah, she thought, pizza sounds perfect right now. She stood, wiped the few beads of sweat that had formed on her brow, and headed toward the stairs.


	3. They Moved In.

Root had had an extremely long weekend. Harold and Reese officially moved in with she and her mother on Saturday. There are three bedrooms, so that was not much of a problem, but only two bathrooms. So, this weekend, Root had seen more than she ever wanted to of Reese.

>   
> "Gosh, Root, I'm so sorry! I guess I'm not in the habit of locking the door yet.. I promise it'll never happen again." He slowly started walking toward Root with both hands raised, trying to calm the tense situation.   
> Root's hand shot up, but her gaze was still toward the ground between them. "Stop! Don't take another step."   
> Root looked a mixture of shocked and disgusted. Like she was reliving the moment of opening the door to the bathroom over and over and over. She shook her head free of thoughts and, then, began listing her demands of her new bathroom mate.   
> "One: never, ever do that anywhere near my toothbrush. Two: you're cleaning the hair from the drain from now on. And Three: always lock that damn door." She looked Reese in the eye for the first time since the.... incident.... and continued her list. "I reserve the right to add anything to this list at any time. Understood?"   
> Reese nodded emphatically and hurried off to his new room. Before shutting the door, he heard Root mumble a string of curse words that he's just going to pretend he didn't hear.   
> 

On Sunday, Root's mother convinced her to stay home long enough to eat dinner with everyone. Root had decided to make a habit of spending as little time in that house as possible after watching Reese cart in the 10th box labeled "books". There were cardboard boxes everywhere she looked. She couldn't deal with the sight of cardboard anymore.

Rachel had cooked spaghetti for everyone, and was busy finishing up in the kitchen when Harold tried to strike up conversation with Root.

"Well, Ms. Groves, how are you enjoying your classes so far this year?"

Root drummed her fingers on the wooden table top as she answered Finch's question. 

"They're going just fine." 

"Oh, that's good." After a few more seconds, Harold continued. "I hope Reese and I are not posing too great of an imposition to you, Ms. Groves." 

Root shot Reese a look, recalling their discussion about the bathroom situation from the night before. Reese avoided Root's stony gaze at all cost, before she turned back to Harold to respond. 

"Please, call me Root. And as for the imposition, well, there's no shortage of reading material. That's for sure, Harold." 

The rest of the dinner was spent in awkward silence until Root excused herself from the table, grabbed her car keys, and left. She didn't return until 5 the next morning, and only then so that she could get ready for school. 

Now, Monday morning, Root stood alone leaned against the brick wall of the school waiting for the first bell to ring, as she always did. She was bundled up, wearing a scarf and a beanie with her hands shoved into the pockets of her leather jacket. She had about 3 more minutes to wait before heading to her first class of the day, Calculus.   
180 seconds. That's all that needed to pass to avoid the conversation that she was about to have with Reese.

"There you are, Root.. I thought I'd find you here.." 

Root glanced up and gave Reese a practiced smile that didn't come close to reaching her eyes. 

"So, there's a basketball game tonight at 7. I thought we could go together, ya know, maybe get to know each other better.. Maybe give me a chance to apologize again.." 

"Hm.." Root paused, hoping enough time would pass that the bell would ring and she could escape without ever giving a definite answer. But, then, she looked at Reese and thought of what Dr. Carmichael had said. 

He was right. They were going to have to get along whether Root liked it, or not. And Reese seemed to be genuinely trying to form a friendship. So, she caved. 

"Ok. Fine. Yeah, I'll go with you. But, don't expect this to happen all the time, okay? Sweaty guys really aren't my thing." 

Just then, the first bell signaling school's start rang out and students began filing into the building. 

"I know. That's why we're going to a girls game. Thought that would be more up your alley." Reese said as he walked away from Root. 

She looked at the ground, smirking to herself. Well, Reese was right about that, at least.


	4. Team Rocket Forming

The school day passed like any other Monday. Root spent most of her day in the school’s computer lab, working on her code. She had managed to convince every teacher, except for her Calculus teacher, Ms. Campbell, to let her skip their class every day, as long as she got the assignments and turned everything in on time. Root had a knack for hacking, and it turns out she could hack people just as easily as she could hack computers. 

Root would take short breaks from working throughout the day to meet up with Daniel, Daizo, and Jason to get all of her assignments. They were the only ones in school that enjoyed working with computers as much as she did. Daniel would give her the History work between 3rd and 4th hour. Then, during lunch, Daizo would give her the Bio work. After exchanging a quick fist bump, she would head to Jason, who would tell her of any English assignments. She had developed a system for herself that was like a well-oiled machine. 

That evening, after school, she was in her room, door shut, headphones on, typing away on her computer when Root saw light from the hallway reflected on her screen and a head poke into the doorway.  
She turned around to see Reese covering his eyes and saying something that she only caught the end of, after removing her headphones. 

"--ready.."

"Reese, dude, relax. I'm dressed, it's okay." 

"Right," he began while removing his hand from his face, "I was just checking to see if you were ready. I thought we could ride together to the game."

At that, Root remembered agreeing to the basketball game. She checked the time and saw that it was almost 6:30. 

"Yeah, I just need to save a few things and then I'll be ready to go."

"Alright, cool. I'll be in my car." 

Root sat down and swung her legs into Reese's grey Lexus. "Nice car."

"Thanks. It was a gift from Harold last year."

Reese backed out of the driveway and started making the trip to the school.

Root doesn't really care for cars. She prefers motorcycles to any other form of transportation. In fact, after graduation, she plans to buy a Kawasaki Ninja. She has her eye on a black one that’s for sale at a dealership across town.

They spent the remainder of the short drive in silence, until Reese pulled into a parking spot and removed his seatbelt.

"Look, I know this isn't exactly your idea of 'fun'.. So, I want you to know that I appreciate the effort here." 

Root nodded with her right hand on the car's door handle, slightly shocked by Reese's sudden openness. Sometimes she wished it were easier for her to say things like that to people, instead of cracking sarcastic jokes.

They made their way into the gymnasium, where a referee whistle, scoreboard buzzer, and applause could be heard immediately. "The game must have started early..." Reese said absently. 

They each paid their $2 as admission into the game.

Root, having never been to any game prior, let Reese lead the way to some seats. She made her way through the next set of double doors that led to the court. Glancing around, Root noticed the red bleachers and images of a Patriot, their school mascot, painted on several parts of the walls. She tilted her head back to look up, seeing several large banners from championships won by previous teams. The oldest she could find hanging was a state championship won in 1972. 

After taking in her surroundings, Root turned her attention to the action of the game. Her eye was immediately caught by a short, dark-haired player wearing a jersey with the number "5" stitched into it. It was all Root could do to keep her mouth from dropping open.  
_"Those arms..."_ Root thought to herself. _"I can think of several uses for those... Good lord, look at those legs.."_ But just before her mind could slip too far into the gutter, Root realized that the intense girl on the court was sprinting quickly toward her. 

_Oh, shit_

Her feet were glued to the ground. She couldn't move. The girl jumped into the air out of bounds, snatching the ball with one hand and hooking a pass around to one of her teammates, managing to keep the play alive, but not able to stop herself from crashing into the body standing frozen in front of her. 

"Hmpff!!" Root ended up flat on her back on the hardwood floors of the gym with a gorgeous, tan skinned woman on top of her. Even with the breath knocked out of her, Root couldn't take her eyes off of the girl. The feeling of the girls toned, muscular body atop hers was intoxicating. Root didn't want to move. 

"Shit. My bad." The girl mumbled as she hopped to her feet and grabbed Root's hand to jerk her upright. As soon as she was standing, Root saw the girl sprint away from her, trying to join her teammates on the other end of the court. Reese was at Root's side immediately asking if she was okay. 

What he didn't know was that Root was more than okay. She nodded to Reese and made her way to the seats that he had picked out. She watched the girl like a hawk, noticing her fearless attitude, her muscular legs, her cocky grin when she made a perfect pass. She couldn't take her eyes off. And she thinks the other girl must have thought the same, because she glanced up into the crowd more than once, locking eyes with Root.

She wanted to know as much as possible about that little firecracker. 

Root leaned over to Reese to ask. "Who is that? Number five..."

"That's Shaw. She in a bunch of our classes. You'd probably know that if you came to one of them," Reese added with a chuckle. 

_Damn. The downfall of cutting class is suddenly revealed._  
This "Shaw" may have Root rethinking her arrangements at school.


	5. School Daze

Root was in a daze for the remainder of the basketball game. Shaw seemed to give Root a feeling that she's never had before. Every time they locked eyes, Root felt her heart race and heat pool low in her stomach.   
She was actually a little disappointed when the final buzzer sounded and the teams headed to their locker rooms. 

Root was busy daydreaming, even as she and Reese made it back to his car. After getting in and buckling their seatbelts, Reese finally asked what was going on.

"Did you hit your head when you fell, or something?" 

"Huh? Oh, no.. Just a bit distracted.." Root was going to let that be the end of it, but she realized that she definitely wanted to see Shaw panting and sweaty again, one way or another. "I had fun tonight. I actually wouldn't mind doing that again sometime." 

Reese looked at her and seemed relieved, to say the least. 

"I was hoping you'd say that," Reese began, "Truthfully, I kind of like someone on the team." 

Root looked over at him, nodding. If he said he liked Shaw, she was going to have a really hard time keeping her temper in check. 

"But I make an ass of myself every time I talk to her.." Reese continued. 

Root laughed a little at that before talking. "So, this was all just a way for you to ask me to be your wingman?"

"Well, yeah, kind of. The only other person I can ask is Lionel, and he's even worse with women than I am."  
Reese pulled into the driveway of their house, and they both began exiting the car. 

"It may work out for you too, Root. You know that girl you were asking about? Shaw?" 

That piqued Root's interest, and she stopped dead in her tracks on the sidewalk leading to their front door. 

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Well, her best friend happens to be the girl I like- Joss Carter." 

Suddenly it all clicked. Helping Reese would get her closer to Shaw. 

"So... Will you help me?" Reese asked. 

"Absolutely." Root said with a grin as she entered the house and headed for her room to conduct some research on one Joss Carter. 

 

Root awoke the next morning to discover that she had accidentally fallen asleep wearing her contacts again. She took them out and opted for her thin, black rimmed glasses for the day.   
She put on the glasses, grabbed a pair of her dark jeans, and buttoned up a maroon blouse before heading to the bathroom to give her hair a quick curl with her curling wand, brush her teeth, and put on a minimal amount of black eyeliner. She slid each foot into her black-leather heeled boots before putting on her jacket and heading out the front door. 

After giving it a lot of thought, Root had decided to attend all of her classes that day. She needed to find an excuse to talk to Joss, and spending the day in front of a computer probably wouldn't help. And maybe, just maybe, she was entertaining the thought of getting to see Shaw again. 

Root stood leaned against the brick wall, waiting for school to begin. This time, though, she thought she felt something akin to excitement. She couldn't put her finger on it. _Is this what it's like to have butterflies in your stomach?_ she wondered to herself. She shook her head to clear those thoughts. 

_Focus, Root. Talk to Joss. That's your mission. Talk to Joss for Reese._ She repeated the words in her head like a mantra, trying to keep the memory of Shaw's body weight atop her out of her brain.   
The first bell rang out, starting the school day. Root made her way through the doors and toward her rarely used locker to grab her books. 

"There she is. That girl from last night..." Root heard someone whispering behind her. She peeked over her shoulder to see Shaw looking awkwardly at the ground while being nudged in the shoulder by another girl that she knew was Joss, based on her Facebook research from the previous night. 

After seeing Shaw, Root shut her locker and turned all the way around so that she could lean her back against the cool steel behind her. She clutched her books to her chest and bit one side of her bottom lip while looking the gorgeous woman up and down. 

"Hi, I'm Joss," the other girl said sticking her hand out and walking toward Root. "And this here is Shaw. I don't think any of us have actually met before.." 

"No," Root said, still looking directly at Shaw "I would have definitely remembered. You can call me Root." She and Shaw locked eyes for a moment before the shorter woman spoke up. 

"Yeah, ok so introductions all done. Look, I'm, uh, sorry.. about last night... Ya know, if I hurt you or whatever." Shaw shrugged and kind of rolled her eyes, clearly embarrassed to be apologizing. She grabbed both shoulder straps of her backpack and stared at her feet. Joss grinned at her friend and then turned her attention back to Root, attempting to fill in the blanks for Shaw. 

"She was really worried last night. Thought she might have given you a concussion or something, so she came right back out after the game to check up on you, but I guess you had already left. The future doctor in her must have been coming out." 

Shaw groaned as Root grinned, clearly happy that she wasn't the only one who had been thinking about the other after the game. 

"Oh, well I'm sure I could use a check up." Root began before leaning in closer to Shaw and whispering, "I bet I'd love it if you played doctor." 

Shaw swallowed heavily and blinked before breaking eye contact with Root to look at a positively gleeful Joss. "Ok... Well, we should probably head to class."   
"Oh! Before we go, Shaw wanted to invite you to a party on Friday. Zoe Morgan is throwing one at her house while her parents are out of town." Shaw glared at the other girl and shifted her weight onto her other foot.

"Yeah, I guess I probably owe you a drink for last night anyways." Shaw said. 

"Sounds perfect," Root answered back before remembering her mission. "Oh, can I bring someone?"

Shaw frowned, looking confused and irritated all at once, thinking Root wanted to bring a date, so Root continued. 

"My new sort-of step-brother, Reese would probably like to go, too." 

"Reese? Like John Reese?" Joss asked.

"Yeah, you know him? I'm sure you two would hit it off..." Root hinted. 

"I know a little of him. He's always so quiet. But, for sure. Bring tall, dark, and handsome along. The more the merrier!" 

And Root watched as Joss and Shaw walked away, paying particularly close attention the sway of Shaw's hips, not at all ashamed when Shaw turned her head and caught her in the act.


	6. Let the Flirting Begin

“Psst.. Shaw..”

Root continued to stare at the back of Shaw’s head. 

“Sameen…” Root whispered, and Shaw’s head swung around to meet Root’s golden brown gaze. 

“Who told you my first name?” Root smiled widely as she handed Shaw a Twix bar across the aisle of desks that separated them. 

“Oh, come on, Sameen. I can’t reveal all of my secrets just yet.”

Shaw rolled her eyes and stared at the candy bar in her hand. She shrugged and began opening the package, much to the dismay of their teacher, Ms. Campbell. 

“Stay quiet. Some students are still trying to work.” 

Root and Shaw had both finished the Psychology exam within 15 minutes, and were now lefet with nothing to do. Shaw had pulled out her Anatomy notes to study, which led Root to believe that she could used a snack break. 

That had become a common occurrence since they met on Tuesday. Root would somehow instinctively know that Shaw was hungry and show up with food. Tuesday afternoon it was a protein bar. Wednesday Root had brought Shaw a breakfast burrito. Yesterday, Shaw opened her locker to find two Snickers bars. How Root got her locker combination, Shaw still did not know, but she decided that she could put up with all of the flirting if it meant she got food. (That’s what she told herself, anyways). 

The final bell of the day rang as Shaw took the last bite of her Twix. Root stood and sauntered over to the still seated Shaw and began talking. “So, I’ll see you tonight?” 

Shaw looked up at Root and met those large doe eyes that she was trying her hardest to avoid. Ever since the game on Monday, she had found herself in Root’s company over and over again. Suddenly this girl that she had never met was around her constantly. What was even more strange was that Shaw didn’t seem to mind. 

_Damn, she’s so hot. So sexy looking down at me like that. I bet I’d love being down on my knees in front of her…_

Shaw realized that she still hadn’t answered Root’s question. She cleared her throat and grabbed her backpack as she stood. _What’s with me lately??_  
“Yeah. Wouldn’t pass up free booze.” 

Shaw tried to not look at Root again as they walked together toward the gym in companionable silence. She knew her face was probably flushed and her pupils dilated. She thought Root would definitely be able to tell that she was turned on, and she’s not sure that she would be capable of fending off Root’s advances if she tried. That woman was having a completely foreign effect on her. 

They approached the doors to the gym and Root reached to open the door for Shaw. 

“Have a good workout, sweetie. Save some energy for later.” 

_Was that her attempt at winking? ___

“Whatever, nerd.” 

Shaw walked into the gym and headed straight toward the locker rooms to get dressed for practice as Root headed toward her car in the parking lot to go home. 

Her mind was racing as she slipped off her shoes and slid her sweats down her legs to kick them off. 

_Yeah, the sex would probably be good. But then Root would think we were ‘together’. I don’t do shit like that. It’s too complicated. Too much work._

Shaw began putting her red practice jersey on over her head, working her arms through the holes, and letting it fall down to cover her toned stomach. 

_What if she were cool with a one time thing?_

_No…. that would never work. Plus, you know Joss already likes her and wants her to join the study group. It’s not like I’d be able to avoid her…._

_Fuck. This is stupid. I probably just need to find a quickie from someone to clear my head and that’ll fix everything. It has been like a month… No wonder I’ve been so turned on lately. I’ll just hook up with someone and then I’ll be back to normal… Just not with Root._

“...Shaw?” 

Joss had apparently been talking the entire time Shaw was having her internal conversation. 

“Huh? Oh, What’d you say?” 

“Girl, where’s your brain at these days? I said ‘did you find out from Root if Reese was single yet?’” 

“No. Must’ve forgot. I can ask her tonight.” 

“Uh-huh… yeah, I’m sure you two will be doing a lot of ‘talking’. She’s been eye-screwing you all week.” 

“Whatever. She’s just the flirty type. Doesn’t mean anything. She probably does that with everyone.” _She better not._ “Plus, I’ll probably be busy with Tomas or Jeremy or Collier.. I can’t decide which.” 

“Yeah, we’ll see. Root told me what she’s wearing tonight, so I know who I’m putting my money on.” 

Shaw became instantly intrigued, but didn’t want it to show to Joss. She narrowed her eyes at her teammate and spoke. “Can we just go to practice. The sooner we’re done, the sooner I can start drinking.” 

Joss chuckled at her friend as they walked out of the locker room and took the court to begin stretching. 


	7. Zoe's Party

Root managed to get dressed for the party, despite Reese knocking on her door every 10 minutes asking for opinions on his outfit. 

“Reese, I seriously have no idea how you managed to make decisions before you moved into this house.” She was applying her makeup and laughing at the distressed look on his face. He was clearly very nervous. “Okay. Go with the white button up. It makes you look tan, and it’ll be easy for her to spot you as soon as you walk in.” 

Reese nodded and walked back toward his room to change into the shirt that Root had referred to. Root finished getting ready and walked to the living room to tell her mother, who was lounging with a book on the couch, that she was about to leave. 

“Curfew is 2. Not a minute after.” 

“You know how Reese is, mom. The boy scout would never be late.” 

They walked out and got into Reese’s car. Root knew that she planned on drinking, so she wasn’t going near her vehicle. Reese began driving while she typed Zoe’s address into her phone for directions. The phone alerted that they were 9 minutes away from their destination. 

A few miles down the road, Root noticed that Reese was fidgeting with the white stitching of his steering wheel. “Nervous, John?”

“No….. Maybe….” 

Root laughed. “Relax. She’s really easy to talk to. Just ask her if she wants a drink and then go from there.” 

“Right,” John sighed. “Wait, what if she already has a drink?”

“Then you go and get me a drink.” 

Reese chuckled and shook his head as they arrived at their destination. There were already a few cars parked in front of the large house. Root wondered if Shaw had already made it there. 

They walked up to the door, not bothering to ring the doorbell since they could hear music playing and bass thumping from outside. Reese checked the door handle, finding it unlocked, and they walked into the house. 

 

Shaw was sitting on one of the bar stools drinking a beer and watching Zoe dance with some random dude from school when something in her peripheral vision caught her eye. 

_Holy shit._

Shaw’s mouth went completely dry at the sight of Root. Her hair was down in loose curls that draped over the shoulders of her brown leather jacket. Her thin, red shirt was just see-through enough that Shaw could see the outline of what she hoped was a black laced bra. Shaw’s eyes roamed Root’s body until she felt eyes watching her. The two women locked eyes and Root gave her the most predatory look, making warmth pool between Shaw’s thighs. 

_Fuck, I’m in trouble. Fuck, she’s coming this way_

“How’s it hangin’, Sameen?” 

Shaw did her best to look unaffected as she saw Joss returning to her bar stool next to hers. She took a long swig of her beer and Joss looked Root up and down. “Damn, girl! You look good!” 

“Thank you, Joss,” she replied as she grabbed Reese’s shoulder to push him toward the girl. “And you know Reese..” 

“Of course. Hey, John.” Joss looked at him and smiled. 

“Hi, Joss.” His short reply earned him an elbow to the ribs from Root. “Uhmm….can I get you a drink?” She smiled brightly at him and hopped off of her seat. 

“Sure, I’ll come with you. Oh, Shaw, don’t forget to ask Root about the study group thing.” 

As Joss and Reese walked away, Shaw became aware of Root’s close proximity. Root and her damn legs that go on for days. 

“Study group?” 

“Yeah, we meet up at the library where I work every Tuesday to study. Joss wanted to see if you’d wanna come...if your free…” 

Never missing a chance at innuendo, Root replied “Oh, I’d love to come with you,” in an all too seductive tone. 

“You’re not drinking?” Shaw asked trying to change the subject. 

“Actually, I was hoping you’d join me for a shot.”

Shaw looked at Root, weighing her options, before deciding to go with it. “What the hell, why not?”

They walked into the kitchen and began pouring silver tequila into shot glasses. There was no lime, but Root found the salt. She licked the backside of her hand, near her thumb and sprinkled the salt over her wet skin before handing the shaker over to Shaw, who did the same. Root loved watching her tongue poke out of her mouth and lick. 

“What should we cheers to, Sameen?” 

Shaw glanced at the girl, grabbed her glass, and held it in the air between herself and Root. “To Zoe, for all of this free booze.” 

Root nodded in agreement as they clinked glasses together. Both women licked the salt from their hand before tossing back the shot. They repeated this action two more consecutive times. The more she had, the less Shaw could remember why hooking up with Root would be a bad idea. 

“You ever been here, Root?” 

“No. Never..” 

Shaw’s bangs were framing her face and she was biting her bottom lip as she stepped closer to Root and leaned against the kitchen counter. 

“Well, there’s a pool house out back with a pretty cool game room. Wanna check it out?” 

Root’s heart leapt into her throat. She felt like she was in the best dream of her life. Managing to regain her composure, she answered, “Absolutely”. 

The walk to the pool house was brisk. The cold, February air made each of them hurry through the doors and into the dark room in search of warmth. Shaw managed to find a light switch and flicked it upward. Root glanced around at her surroundings, taking in the impeccable decor. 

Shaw walked further into the house toward a door that led to a room with a pool table and pinball machines. “Ever play?” Shaw asked, pointing to the pool table. 

Root smirked at the shorter woman and walked forward, feeling more courageous after taking the shots. “I can think of a few things I’d like to play on this table.” 

Shaw had her tailbone leaned against the table with her palms planted on either side of her body. Root walked closer and closer before reaching her left hand around Shaw’s waist. When Shaw didn’t push her away, Root took the opportunity to lean her face down, seeking the other girl’s lips. Shaw felt like she was on fire. Every nerve ending was tingling. She wanted Root to consume her right then and there. Her lips parted, and she could still smell the faint traces of alcohol on Root’s breath. JUst a couple more inches and she’d have what she’d been craving. 

Root’s right hand dug into her hair, and their lips grazed against each others, sending a spark through both of the women, when they heard the door to the pool house open and a familiar voice yell in. “Root! We’ve gotta go. Zoe’s parents are on their way back!” 

The girls looked at each other, both faces flushed and hearts pounding, wanting to continue what they had started. Root took a step backwards to try to gather herself and Shaw ran both of her hands over her face. 

Feeling more pent up than ever, Shaw irritatedly huffed and suddenly felt sobered up. _Is this what getting cock blocked feels like?_

Root started walking away. “I guess I better find Reese and head out..”

“Yeah….okay…. Uh, see you Monday?” 

Root smiled at Shaw and nodded as she walked away. Shaw stared at the girl, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to get her off of her mind.


	8. Phase One

Root had been more irritated with Reese than she had been with anyone in her entire life. She didn’t even want to talk to him on the drive back home Friday night, or any the next day. Sunday afternoon was the first time the entire weekend that Reese got her to speak. “You should have let me kiss her.”

“I told you, Root, it wouldn't have changed anything. Zoe’s parents were still on their way back…”

Root gave him one look, and Reese immediately backed down. “You’re right. I should have let you kiss her.” 

Root thought back to that night, realizing she wasn’t the only one who had been preoccupied with a beautiful woman. “On the bright side, lurch, you got some good time in with Joss.” 

“Yeah, but it got cut pretty short. I didn’t even get a chance to ask her to hang out again.” With his words, Root remembered her conversation with Shaw. 

“Huh, that’s funny. I did. I’ll be hanging out with her on Tuesday. How did I end up scoring a date and you didn’t?” Root was enjoying giving Reese a hard time. 

“What? With Joss??” Root laughed at the distressed Reese. 

“Relax. It’s a study date at the library, and Sameen will be there, too. Joss is into you, I’m pretty sure, which makes my wingman duties much easier.” 

“Well, how will I know for sure?” 

_Ummmm, I dunno.. Maybe ask her out….._ Root said those words internally, but filtered herself, thinking that they might come out too harsh for Reese to hear right now. So, she paused, thinking of a good analogy to present to John. 

“You know about Schrodinger’s Cat?” 

“No, I’m not really much of a ‘cat person’,” John deadpanned. Root looked at him unamused and continued with her analogy. 

“There’s a cat trapped in a box with something lethal. Fifty percent chance the cat’s been killed, but until you open the box, there’s no way to know one way or the other.”

“So...who’s the cat?” 

“Shh..let me finish. Quantum physics says before you open the box, the cat isn’t dead or alive. It’s both.” 

“And what about after you open the box?”

“Reality collapses back onto itself. Cat’s either alive, or it’s dead.”

“So, what you’re saying is, making my move with Joss is gonna leave me alive or dead? Like Romeo and Juliet?”

“In a metaphorical sense, yeah. Think of it like this: after you kiss her, you’ll know if your chances are alive, or dead.” 

Finally understanding what Root is saying, Reese turns the tables. “And what about you and Shaw… What’s the verdict after opening the box?” 

“Well, John, I didn’t get to actually open that box, thanks to you...But I know already. Nothing kills that cat.” 

Seeing that he was about to lose Root to a flood of thoughts about Shaw, Reese made the request that had been on his mind over the last few minutes. “You think I could come to the study group, too?” 

Root looked at him, her lips making a pouty shape while she mulled things over, until a cheshire grin appeared on her face. Root had come up with a plan. 

 

 

 

Shaw had never felt awkward to the level that she felt on Monday morning while walking into school. She had spent the entire weekend trying to get the party and a certain leggy brunette off of her mind. 

It didn’t work. 

Every time she was still, her mind would drift to that feeling of Root pressed against her and her lips inching toward her own face. There was no escape. She would find herself lying in bed at night, eyes closed, hand between her legs, with Root on her mind. She wished that would be enough, but it only made her want Root more. _Fuck! Why didn’t I just hook up with someone else? That would have been so much easier._

Shaw walked into the gym for an early morning workout, like she did every day before school. She walked to the locker room to place her bag in her designated locker and then headed to the weight room. Strolling through the glass doors, Shaw say two of the male soccer players, Grice and Tomas, using her preferred weight bench. 

“Hey, Shaw. Been a while. You know Koroa, right?” 

“Sure.” Her stare lingered a while longer on the shirtless Tomas. “You guys gonna be much longer?” 

“Just finished,” the attractive teen flashed his bright smile, “It’s all yours, unless you need a spot?” Tomas was clearly being flirty, and Shaw decided to go with it. She had an annoyingly perfect brunette to work off of her mind. Tomas, being Root’s polar opposite, could be her cure. They took turns checking each other out as Shaw powered through 5 sets. She knew it would be so easy to get him to take her somewhere and fuck, but, for some reason, she simply smiled at him, said “see you around,” and went back to her daily routine. 

 

Quickly walking through the hallway, weaving through the crowds of students heading to their first class of the day, Reese was having trouble keeping pace with Root. “Okay, so walk me through this one more time…” 

Root paused to let him catch up to her and began explaining her plan. “We are going to find Shaw and Joss, you will casually mention that you’re having some trouble in Biology, I’ll ask if the study group is still meeting tomorrow, and then you’ll be invited. After that, phase two begins.” 

“And what is ‘phase two’?” 

“That’s not important right now.” Spotting her favorite Persian, Root began walking with a purpose. Shaw was standing with Joss and Zoe in front of their lockers as the two of them approached. 

“Hey, guys. How was everyone’s weekend?” Root coyly asked. 

“Fine.” Shaw stated, not making eye contact. Root thought she noticed the shorter woman’s cheeks redden a little, but that could have just been wishful thinking. 

Zoe decided to speak up to answer Root’s question more fully. “Well, I got into a little trouble with the parents when they got home. Turns out I’m not so good at hiding my drunkeness.” 

“Or at hiding a shirtless dude in your bed…” Shaw quipped, earning a laugh from everyone and a playful punch from Zoe. 

“Are we still on to study tomorrow?” Root asked. 

“God, yes! I desperately need your help with the Calculus homework,” Joss answered. 

“Yeah and we have a Biology test on Thursday to study for.” Root was trying to give John his cue to speak. 

“Oh...uh...you guys study Biology? I’m kind of, um, having trouble with this chapter…” Reese stammered through his sentence, sounding like an actor who had forgotten his lines. 

“Oh, you should come, too, then. Shaw is an expert at Bio.” Joss started writing down a phone number on a sheet of paper, but instead of handing it to Reese, she handed it over to Root. “Here. This is Shaw’s number.”

Not knowing Joss was giving out her number, Shaw yelled “Whoa, what the hell?”

Ignoring her, Joss continued “Text her later and she will tell you what time we’re meeting and all that.” She winked at Root, who grinned while folding the paper and putting it in the pocket of her jeans. Joss had decided to play matchmaker, and she was doing an amazing job. 

With phase one of her plan complete, Root was on to phase two.


	9. Study Group

Phase two was going off without a hitch. They had planned to meet at the library at 7:00, which gave Root plenty of time to gather a few of Sameen’s favorite snacks from a nearby gas station. She loved watching Shaw eat. 

Root was armed with beef jerky, Flaming Hot Cheetos, and a king sized Hershey’s bar with almonds. For herself, she had gotten a bag of fruit snacks and a water. Her backpack was loaded with the snacks along with her laptop as she and her soon-to-be step-brother headed for the city library downtown. 

Walking through the library doors, Root was surprised to see Zoe sitting at the table with Joss and Shaw. Reese leaned over and whispered to Root, “Did you know she was going to be here, too?” 

“No. No, I didn’t.” And she worried that her plan had hit its first setback. 

They approached the rectangular table and took the two open seats, one next to Joss and one next to Zoe. Shaw had placed herself at the head of the table, not allowing any seat to be next to hers. 

“Zoe, I didn’t know you’d be joining us tonight…” Root began. 

“Well, I come every now and then when I have time. Really, I just wanted to get out of the house for a while. My parents have been pretty strict these last few days.” 

“Ah, gotcha.” Root pulled her laptop and books out of her bag before grabbing her snacks. At the sight of food, Shaw leaned forward in her seat, trying to see what Root had brought. “Don’t think I forgot about you, sweetie. These are just for you,” she said while handing Shaw her loot, which the smaller woman immediately tore into. 

“So I thought we could pair off and work for a while. Joss and Root, Me and Reese, and Zoe can go to whichever group she wants.” Shaw said around a mouthful of chocolate. Root loved how serious Shaw got about studying. _How can someone be so attractive also be so intelligent_

They all settled in their places around the table, Zoe deciding to study the Biology notes with John and Shaw. Halfway through studying, Shaw noticed that Reese hadn’t been looking at his notes. Instead, his gaze was toward the other group at the table. She rolled her eyes and poked his forearm with the end of her pen. “Dude, stop being a creep and focus.” 

Reese’s face turned a bright shade of pink. He didn’t realize he had been staring so long. “My bad.” 

“Oh come on, Shaw,” Zoe began in a whisper, “let the boy look. You know you want to look over there, too. That’s why you wanted me here to keep you away from you-know-who.” 

“Shut up. I’m just studying, like you should be.” Shaw deflected. 

Root was leaned over with her head tilted to the side watching Joss work out a problem. Shaw couldn’t resist any longer. She glanced up and watched the woman helping her friend. _I had no idea glasses were so sexy._ She grabbed a piece of the beef jerky and bit a piece off, still staring at Root, wishing she were biting the other girl’s neck instead. 

Zoe loudly cleared her throat, breaking Shaw out of her trance. She had been caught. Shaw stood from the table and walked up to the front desk, giving an excuse of needing to check the drop box, but really just needing space from the view of Root. She had asked Zoe to come that night to run interference, but it wasn’t working. Shaw could still feel her resolve crumbling.

“Something wrong, Shaw?” Zoe asked walking up to lean her forearms on the front desk’s counter. 

“No, I’m fine. Just wanted to take a break.” 

“Yeah, it seems everyone did. Root and Joss finished their homework, so we kinda wandered off to give Reese and Joss time alone.” 

Shaw instinctively wanted to know where Root went, but didn’t want to ask Zoe. She had been obvious enough with her attraction tonight. 

“She’s hot, she’s a genius, and she gives you food. What more could you ask for?” Zoe stated. “If you ask me, you’d be crazy to not give that a go.” 

“Well, then I guess it’s good I’m not asking you.” Shaw said, trying to look bored with the conversation. 

“Okay, Shaw. Whatever you say. I just never thought I’d see the day where Sameen Shaw was scared of someone.” That irritated Shaw, and she countered with a chuckle and said “Please, I’m not scared of anyone.” Feeling like she’d been challenged, Shaw decided to go find Root, just to prove Zoe wrong. 

Root was bent down browsing in the Technology and Applied Sciences section of the library when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, indicating another person’s presence. Shaw was surprised to find her there. No one ever went to that section. She stood behind the bent over Root, admiring the view that she had walked up on. _Damn, Root has an amazing ass._ Root stayed bent over as she looked back at Shaw and smirked. “See something you like, sweetie?” 

_That’s it._   
Shaw had had enough. She quickly paced to Root, who stood upright just in time for Shaw to grab her and push her against the sturdy, wooden bookcase. Root’s back slammed against the bookcase and Shaw grabbed both of her legs to wrap around her waist. She wasted no time and captured Root’s lips in a hard, passionate kiss that made both women forget where they were. 

Root’s legs were wrapped around her waist, and her tongue was in Shaw’s mouth, swirling around her own, leaving the sweet taste of fruit snacks behind. Her hand reached up and grabbed the back of Sameen’s head, pulling her deeper into the amazing kiss. Shaw moaned into Root’s mouth, and she felt the taller girl bite and suck at her bottom lip as she slightly pulled away for a quick breath of air. _More. I want more._

Shaw grabbed at the bottom of Root’s shirt and slid her hand up, underneath the thin, cotton material. Shaw’s hands were everywhere. Root felt her grabbing her ass tighter and tighter as Root would grind into Shaw’s waist, seeking friction. Root leaned her head back, knocking several books off of the shelf and into the adjacent aisle behind her. 

She was moaning and gasping for air when Shaw turned her attention to her neck. With one hand shoved up her shirt, grabbing her right breast, Shaw kissed her softly with her warm lips before biting down on the tendon protruding from Root’s neck. This earned her a louder moan from Root, a moan that Shaw wanted to hear over and over again. 

They were both breathing heavily when they heard a voice that only Shaw recognized. The head librarian, and Shaw’s boss, sounded very uncomfortable when calling at the girls from a few rows away “You two need to take that somewhere else, now. This is not appropriate for a library!” 

Almost simultaneously, the two girls had the exact same thought. _Son of a bitch! If I get interrupted one more time…._

Shaw released her hold on Root, and stood back, allowing Root’s feet to hit the ground. She stared at the heaving chest of the woman who she desperately wanted. Root was looking at Shaw’s swollen, red lips and couldn’t stop herself from imagining what they would feel like all over her body. It was pure lust that was driving the minds of both women, and Shaw was on the verge of asking Root to leave with her when Zoe walked up on the flushed faced pair. 

“Well, that didn’t take long…” Zoe was all too smug for Shaw’s liking. “Look, Shaw, I’m sorry to interrupt this, from what I could hear, super hot moment, but you better get out there before you end up fired.” 

Without a word, Shaw walked past Zoe toward the front desk. Root straightened her clothes out and headed back toward the remaining members of the group to start packing up her things. 

“Hey, so, are you guys gonna come to our game on Thursday? It’s the last one of the regular season..” Joss was looking between Root and Reese seeking an answer from either of them. 

“Yeah! I’ll be there.” Reese answered, earning a smile from Joss. Root didn’t give an answer, too preoccupied with what had just happened between herself and Shaw. She was still burning with desire and, if anything, finally kissing the girl had added fuel to that fire. Root started for the library exit, only pausing as she reached the doors to look back at the figure being reprimanded by her boss behind the front desk. Their eyes met immediately. 

There was no way around it. She couldn’t stop what was happening. Root could feel herself falling for Sameen Shaw.


	10. Close, but No Cigar

Root turned away from Sameen and walked with Reese back to his car to head back home for the night. She was lost in a cloud of thoughts, and consumed by the butterflies that had invaded her stomach. Kissing Shaw had been an intoxicating experience, and had affected Root more than she had realized. She got into the car with her backpack, which held her Calculus and Biology books, her glasses case and glasses, as well as her laptop. 

What she did not have: her cell phone.

 

 

Sameen had watched Root walk away, wanting nothing more than to go after her and take her somewhere private. She would have, too, had her boss been standing in front of her lecturing her about ‘decorum’. Shaw hadn’t even been listening to the older woman. Instead, she was behind the front desk staring over the aging woman’s right shoulder at the girl pushing open the glass door to leave. 

“I’m not sure what was going on back there between you two, and I don’t really care. Your business is your business, but it just doesn’t belong at work. After your friends leave, I want everything put back in its rightful place.”

Shaw nodded wordlessly and walked to the table that they had been studying at so that she could straighten the chairs and pick up some trash from her snacks. Joss and Zoe were standing by the table, waiting for Shaw to comment on what had happened, but Shaw wasn’t going to give in that easily. Truthfully, she didn’t know what to say to her friends. Something within her had shifted. It was almost as if she _cared_. 

“Are you ever going to tell us what happened?? Come on, girl, we want details!” Joss was doing her best to whisper, but was clearly too excited to keep her voice down. 

“Nothing happened. We were just… back there, ya know, and thought it would, uh, be funny to make a bunch of fake sex noises to trick you guys.” Shaw kept her voice even and kept eyes contact with Joss. She really was a skilled liar, but none of the girls, not even Shaw herself, believed that story. 

“Seriously, Shaw. I’ve heard your fake noises before. Those were not them. And I don’t think that they were Root’s, either.” Zoe was having a field day with her smugness. 

Shaw tried again to avoid the questioning by straightening all of the chairs that were surrounding the wooden tables in the study section of the library. 

“Wait… what is this? You always brag to us when you make out or hook up with someone new. Do… do you actually like her?” Joss inquired. 

“No,” Shaw said immediately, but after taking a beat to consider the question more fully, she backtracked. “I don’t know, okay?” 

Zoe and Joss looked at each other with blinding smiles. They had never seen their friend in this state before. “What the fuck, guys. Stop smiling. It’s not that big of a deal.” Shaw rolled her eyes and walked past them toward the Technology section, where she knew there were some books knocked off of their shelf. The other two girls followed along. 

“It is totally a big deal, Shaw. You’ve never had a crush before!” Zoe was just too giddy for Shaw’s liking. 

“Alright, weirdos. You guys need a hobby other than bugging me about my love life.” Shaw began picking up the scattered books and putting them in their places. She lifted the last book and saw a black iPhone laying underneath. 

“What’s that?” Joss asked with her hand over Zoe’s mouth. The girl had begun singing ‘Shaw and Root, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g’, and Joss was sure that she was about to receive a punch from Shaw. 

“Root’s phone. Must have fallen out of her pocket.” 

Zoe clapped her hands together excitedly, “This is perfect! You’ll take the phone to her, have hours of amazing sex, and then you’ll be a couple and I can come up with a cool coupley name for you!” 

“Whoa, Zo. It’s just a phone. Just because I take it to her doesn’t mean it’s gonna lead anywhere.” Shaw was already walking to the front to grab her jacket and keys. 

“Well, what would you want to happen?” Joss was always asking Shaw the tough questions. 

“I guess I’ll know when I see her.” Shaw said as she strolled toward the door. 

The drive to Root’s house was a short one. She had never been there before, but Root had been giving her directions to the house for a week as a not-so-subtle attempt to invite her over. Shaw parked her car next to the curb on the far side of the street, grabbed Root’s phone, and exited the car. 

 

 

Reese made every attempt to make the drive home less awkward for both of them. He tried turning on the radio, and, when that didn’t work, he started talking about the weather. He was saying anything to avoid the whole situation of ‘yeah, I totally heard you making a bunch of sex noises, and I know you know I heard you….’ They were both going to avoid that conversation altogether. In fact, Root had decided to avoid Reese for the rest of the night if she could. 

As soon as they walked in the door, they were met by a smiling Harold. “How was the library?” 

Root turned a bright shade of pink and stared at her feet, so Reese answered the question. “It was fine.” 

“Oh, good. I do so enjoy libraries…” 

Root gave a curt smile and stalked toward her bedroom door. There was no way she could deal with Finch right now. She opened her bedroom door, light from the hallway streaming in, sending rays of light across the floor. Walking in, she closed the door behind her and leaned her body against the frame, letting her head fall back against the wood. She stayed like that in the dark room for a few moments until she heard a voice.

“Hey…” 

“What the fuck?” Root was startled, and fumbling to find her lightswitch. Finally managing to flick the switch upwards, Root saw who the noise came from. A naked Kelli was lying on her bed. She had her hair down with one arm tucked under the back of her head and one hand slid down between her legs. Root stood by her door, frozen. “How did you get in?” 

“Your window. Wanna come over here and have some fun?” 

_Tempting… Oh, it’s so tempting_

“Um… I don’t know if I really should, Kelli.” 

Kelli continued the circular movements she had begun making as she arched her back and bit her bottom lip. She was doing her best to seduce Root. “Please, baby. No one can do it like you..” 

_Shit…_

Root went to her bed, lying on top of the naked woman and kissed her. Kelli moaned into her mouth when she grabbed a handful of hair to yank backwards. Doing so allowed Root perfect access to the girl’s neck, and she bit down hard. She had a sexy, flexible, writhing woman beneath her, but something wasn’t right. Root pulled back away from Kelli. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” 

“What? Why not?” 

“I just have some stuff on my mind.” 

Kelli looked embarrassed. She climbed off of the bed and hurriedly grabbed her clothes. “Some stuff? Or some _one_ on your mind?” 

Root knew exactly who was on her mind, but she didn’t want to hurt Kelli’s feelings anymore than she already had. “Both, I guess.” 

Kelli nodded, now clothed, as she walked back to Root’s side. “Well, when you get your mind clear, give me a call.” With a quick kiss placed on her cheek, Root watched Kelli climb out of her window. 

 

 

Shaw had made it all the way to the driveway of Root’s house when she saw a figure appear out of the shadows that were cast to the left side of the home. Both women paused, standing frozen and confused. The other girl shook her head and scoffed, continuing to walk toward Shaw. She unbuttoned the top of her jacket and threw her head to the side as she approached. Shaw noticed a crescent shaped bite mark on the neck of the girl, knowing instantly that it was Root’s bite mark. 

“You may want to give her a few minutes,” the girl quipped, “she’s probably pretty tired.”

Shaw watched the girl walk to her car, which was park a few houses down the block, and didn’t know exactly what she was feeling. She kept imagining Root with the other woman, and it made her angry. 

She could only remember one other time in her life when she had felt this way. Shaw was 7 years old, playing soccer. Her team had lost the championship game at the end of the season by one goal, and Shaw looked on with anger as the other team’s goalie held the trophy. Shaw’s mother said that what she was feeling was called ‘jealousy’. 

_Jealous? I don’t get jealous. Fuck this. She can do what she wants._ Shaw decided she didn’t want to see Root, after all. 

She turned back to her car to grab her slim jim tool out of her trunk. She took the long file-shaped object straight to Reese’s passenger side door and unlocked the car with ease. She was angry and working fast. She grabbed the phone from her pocket and slid it into the small space between the console and seat. 

Shaw quietly shut the car door and backed away, hoping to remain unseen. Taking one last look at Root’s front door, she turned on her heel and walked away. _This is why I don’t do relationships._


	11. What the Hell Happened?

Zoe and Joss had been impatiently waiting in the gym for Shaw to show up. They were dying to know what had happened the night before. “Do you think they did it?” Zoe asked Joss who only laughed and rolled her eyes. They waited there for a few more minutes, expecting Shaw to keep with her routine and workout before school. 

“Ooooh, maybe she got a workout last night instead…” Zoe waggled her eyebrows at Joss. 

“Okay, I need you to stop being obsessed with Shaw and Root having sex.”

“I can’t. And I won’t. It’s all I can think about when two people are as hot for each other as they are... Just like you and Reese.” 

“Ew, Zoe! Girl, get it together. I don’t want you thinking about me that way, like, ever, and I’m sure Shaw would feel the same way.” 

“Oh, come on. Don’t be a prude. Everyone thinks this way, they just don’t talk about it like I do.”

Joss rolled her eyes at her friend and checked her watch. “It’s almost 8. Shaw should be here by now… I’ll text her and see where she is.” Joss began typing on her phone and the two made their way out of the gym and toward their classroom. 

Joss (7:53): Hey! Where are you?? We wanna talk! 

Shaw (7:56): Running late. Gonna miss first hour. 

Joss stared at the message, confused as to why Shaw would be late. She looked up from her phone and saw Root approaching. “Hey, have you seen Shaw?” 

“No, she just text me and said she was running late.” 

“The real question is: have _you_ seen Shaw? And exactly _how much_ have you seen?” Zoe blurted out. 

“Okay, we’re diving right in on that topic I see.” Root chuckled, slightly embarrassed. 

“Well, yeah! So what happened after the library? I’ve been dying to know all night!” 

“After the library? What do you mean? You saw me leave. I went home and went to bed…”

Joss was super confused now. She looked down and saw Root’s phone in her hand. “Wait, how did you find your phone?” 

Root frowned, completely confused as to how Joss would know that she had lost her phone the night before. “I found it in Reese’s car. Must have fallen out of my pocket when I sat down…. How did you know about that?” 

Covering her tracks, Joss said “Oh, uh, John told me about it last night. Just thought I’d ask.” 

“That’s so precious. You two already telling each other about your day.” Root felt like the world’s best wingman. Joss just smiled at the taller woman. 

Zoe was not liking where this story was going. “Ugh I just can’t catch a break.” The other two women looked at Zoe with wide eyes and puzzled faces. “Did I just say that out loud?” After the most awkward conversation of their lives, the girls decided to get to class, and Zoe sent Shaw a quick text message. 

Zoe (8:01): What the hell happened???? 

Shaw didn’t text Zoe back, but showed up for their second class of the day. She was wearing sweats and a hoodie, which was not unlike Shaw, but Joss could see something different in the look on her face. Something was really wrong. After class ended, Joss grabbed Shaw’s arm and pulled her toward the girl’s bathroom, with Zoe following close behind. 

“What’s up, Shaw? You’re worrying me.” Joss asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the sink. Zoe was checking each of the stalls to make sure the coast was clear so that no one would hear them. 

“Nothing’s up. I’m fine.” 

“Well, what happened with Root last night? I mean why didn’t you see her?” 

Shaw let out a deep breath. She really did not want to tell the story, but she knew her friends, and they were not going to let this one go.

“I went to see her, but before I got to the door I saw a girl climb out of her window.” 

“A girl? What girl?” Zoe said, frowning. 

“Chick on the gymnastics team. I don’t know her name. Just knew her face.” 

“Okay, so that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she was just getting help with computer stuff.” Joss tried making sense of the situation, wanting to believe the best in her new friend. 

“She had a hickey on her neck.” Shaw said shaking her head and shoving her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. “And her exact words were ‘Give Root a minute. She’s probably tired.’”

“What the fuck…. So what did you do?” Zoe asked. 

“I put her phone in Reese’s car and left. But….” 

“...But what?” Joss knew that there was more to the story. There was something that Shaw was hesitant to tell the other girls. 

“I went home and found my tequila. Drank…. A lot…. And then texted Tomas.” 

“You fucked Tomas Koroa?” Zoe was in shock. “I mean, he’s hot and all, but he’s no Root.” 

Shaw shot Zoe her most intimidating death glare. “Shit, did I say that out loud, too?” 

Shaw ignored her friend and continued with her story. “He came by my house and picked me up since I couldn't drive. We went out to some back road and hooked up.” _For all of five minutes…_ “I don’t know why I did it. It wasn’t even good. I was just mad and thought it would make me feel better.” 

“And did it?” Joss asked, and Shaw just shook her head. 

“I don’t even know why I was mad..”

“Because you like her,” Joss stated and Zoe nodded her head in agreement. 

“Okay, let’s say that’s true. Say, hypothetically, I do actually like her as more than just a physical thing… I get mad, and my first reaction is to fuck someone else just to get back at her? That’s not fair. No one deserves someone who’s gonna do that to ‘em...” Shaw stared at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact. 

The two girls looked at Shaw with sad looks on their faces. They knew what Shaw was saying made sense, but they hated it for their friend. 

“I can’t believe she would do that. I mean, it just doesn’t seem like her at all.” Zoe was pacing the bathroom, trying to make sense of the last 24 hours, but having no luck. She threw her hands in the air. “Should I go talk to her?” 

“No. I don’t want her to know I was there. Besides, it’s better off this way. I mean, clearly she was just being flirty and I probably read too much into that. That was my bad. So, just being friends is fine with me.” Shaw shrugged again, and Joss could tell that she was seconds away from closing down and not talking anymore. Zoe picked up her discarded backpack from the floor, and the three women headed back into the hallway.


	12. The Game

It was a cold, rainy Thursday morning in February. Shaw was pulling on sweatpants and searching for her running shoes. She has always loved running in rainy weather. The rain this morning had shifted into a slight mist, perfect for a two mile jog before school. Shaw grabbed her beanie on the way outside, and stopped at the edge of her driveway to do a quick warm-up stretch. 

A quarter mile later, Shaw was running harder than she had planned. She was thinking about Root, and ended up in a full blown sprint. Shaw had succeeded in avoiding Root for the entire day yesterday, but knew that there was no chance of doing that again. Root was persistent, and Shaw was going to have to have the ‘let’s just be friends’ conversation with her today. 

She had this talk with plenty of people before, and didn’t have any problem. Why did it seem so much more difficult of a talk to have with Root? 

_Okay, Shaw. Get it together. Things were working out fine before you kissed her, so just go back to that. Friends. No muss, no fuss._

Shaw was in the last stretch of her run, stomping puddles along the pavement of her neighborhood, sending splashes of rainwater in each direction. The bottom of her sweats were soaked through, and her shoes were water logged. Her mom hated when she tracked water all through the house, so she knew she was going to have to undress in the garage before going inside. 

She rounded the corner, into her driveway, only stopping when she reached the garage door keypad. She typed in the code and stepped inside, pulling off her beanie and kicking off her shoes. She closed the garage door back, and peeled off the rest of her soaked clothing before padding through her house to her bedroom in her underwear.

She always wore the same clothes on game day: team sweatshirt and nike sweats. She grabbed both of them and went to her bathroom to shower, trying to not wake her mother, since she had worked an extra night shift at the hospital. 

The shower was scalding by the time she stepped in, just how Shaw liked. She was talking to herself as the water cascaded down her toned muscles. _I don’t know why I even got mad. The whole thing is stupid. We are both single and can hook up with whoever we want. I had no right to think she wouldn’t do that._ She washed herself and her hair, shaved her legs, and stood under the hot stream for a few seconds before she leaned down and turned off the water. Stepping out of the tub and wrapping herself in a towel, she wiped the steam from the mirror and stared at her reflection. 

_So what you’ve never liked anyone like this before. Doesn’t mean you never will again. But wouldn’t you rather have her as a friend than fuck up, like you know you will, and not have her at all…. I mean, she’s annoying, yeah, but she’s also smart and cool and easy to be around. Taking sex off the table will make things less complicated._

Shaw brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back into a loose, still wet, ponytail. She grabbed her clothes from where she sat them on the vanity counter and slipped them onto her body, continuing her inner monologue.

_Yeah, less complicated. That’s what I need in my life. We can still hang out, study, and she can come to my games. I’ll just have to keep it in my pants, that’s all. I think I can do that… I don’t want a relationship._

Her mind was made up. Uncomfortable conversation, or not, she had to figure out how to shut things down with Root, but still keep her as a friend. 

 

 

Root got to school a few minutes late, so Shaw couldn’t talk to her like she had planned. Instead, the gorgeous hacker gave Shaw a quick wink and tossed her a protein bar as they passed each other in the hallway. 

“Hey, where you going? Class is this way…” 

“Oh, I can’t make it today. Got a few things to take care of so that I can make it to your game tonight,” Root explained. 

“Oh.. yeah, okay. See ya then.” 

They didn’t see each other for the rest of the day. Shaw attempted to stay focused on her work, managing to push the other girl from her thoughts for short spans of time. Very short spans of time. She would think of parabolas, then Root. World War II, and then Root. Periodic table of elements, and then Root. She couldn’t escape those thoughts, and knew that she needed to talk to the other girl as soon as possible, before she convinced herself to change her mind. 

 

 

That night, at the game, Shaw looked into the stands to see Root’s smiling face staring at her. For some reason, knowing Root was there seemed to calm her. She was never a nervous player, but she did have a tendency to get angry, and that combined with the adrenaline coursing through her body was, sometimes, detrimental. With Root there, though, she was able to find a sort of solace. She looked away from the girl, dreading the talk that she was going to have with her after the game. 

Shaw ended up having 18 points and 12 assists in the team’s win. She was receiving pats on the back from her teammates and coaches all of the way to the locker rooms to get dressed. She quickly clothed and left, not wanting to hang around too long after, in fear that Root would leave. She wanted things resolved so that everything would go back to normal.

She walked out of the locker rooms and toward the gym entrance, but instead of finding Root she found Tomas waiting for her in the lobby. He side stepped in front of her as she tried to walk past him, flashing her his brightest smile. “Great game, Shaw.” 

“Thanks.” Shaw said and searched the retreating crowd as they shuffled through the exits, hoping to spot Root. 

“So, the other night was fun.. I was thinking we could maybe hang out--” Shaw cut Tomas off in the middle of his sentence. 

“Let me stop you right there. No, it’s not gonna happen.” Shaw stepped around the boy and continued her quest to find Root. She saw no sign of the girl inside, so she decided to try her luck in the parking lot. Standing on the sidewalk outside of the gym’s back doors, she could see her car and a tall figure leaned against it. _Root_

She walked toward the woman who tilted her head and smiled as she approached. “Hey, I’ve been looking for you.” 

“What a coincidence. I was waiting for you,” Root replied. 

At that moment, Shaw noticed that the smile she had received from Root was not the same as normal. It was as if she were wearing a mask to cover up some kind of sadness, which made Shaw frown. She didn’t want Root to be sad. 

“I was--” both girls spoke the words at the same time. “You go first,” Shaw offered. 

“Okay, well, I was thinking about what happened with us at the library,” Root began as she used Shaw’s car to push herself away from her leaned position. 

“Yeah, I’ve kinda been thinking a lot about that, too,” Shaw admitted, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. 

Root had her arms crossed and was shifting her weight from leg to leg, seeming uncomfortable. “I don’t think that should happen again,” Root mumbled in a low voice. “I think we should just be friends.” 

Sameen was shocked to hear the words fall from Root’s mouth. Even though they were the exact words she had planned to say, she hated hearing them. “Uh, yeah...okay…” 

Root finally made eye contact with the other girl. Shaw had never seen Root appear so defeated.

“I’ll see you around, Shaw.”

She watched the other girl walk away from her, stunned by what had transpired. After a few steps, she saw the other girl turn on her heel and walk backwards for a few paces while saying “You played a good game, by the way.” With those last words, Shaw saw her duck down into her car and drive off. She didn’t move from that spot until Root’s tail lights were no longer visible.

Grabbing her keys from the pocket of her sweatpants, Shaw entered her vehicle and turned the key. She was left with two thoughts that kept creeping up into her mind: 

_When did she stop calling me ‘Sameen’?_  
and  
_Had I been the one avoiding her over the last few days, or had she been the one avoiding me?_

She pulled out of the parking lot, and drove home.


	13. The Last Appointment

Dr. Carmichael sat behind his desk, pen in hand, jotting down notes while Root waited patiently on the couch across the room. He clicked his pen and shut the manila file folder after finishing up his paperwork for his previous patient. 

“Sorry about the wait, Ms. Groves.” 

Root did not reply. She normally never responded when being referred to as anything other than ‘Root’. 

“So, I see that this is officially our last appointment.”

“That’s correct. I’ve fulfilled my agreement with my mother.” 

“And do you think that this has helped you at all?” 

Root took a deep breath, seriously considering the doctor’s question. She exhaled slowly through her nose while nodding. “I do.” 

“The advice I gave, about keeping a journal, how has that gone?” 

“Pretty well. I’ve made a few entries here and there. Helped me sort through some things.” 

“Mm-hmm. If you don’t mind my asking, what was in the last entry?” 

Root thought back to the last entry. Everything she felt while writing it; everything she felt after writing it. “Shaw. It was about Shaw.” 

“I noticed the last time Shaw’s name came up in our sessions you seemed somewhat happier.” He paused, gauging Root’s reaction. “Did something happen there?” 

“You could say that.” 

Root knew the man was going to sist and wait for her to elaborate more fully. She had figured out his strategies after their first session. She could read him like a book. “We kissed,” she began, “and then everything changed.” 

_And here comes an open-ended question_

“In what ways do you think things have changed?” 

_Predictable_

“My feelings for her… deepened… and I thought, maybe, she felt the same way. But she doesn’t,” Root concluded with a small, quiet voice. 

“What makes you think that?” 

“Because, that night after we kissed, she called someone else.” 

“She told you this?” 

“No,” Root shook her head slowly. “No, I heard it from the guy.” 

“How so?”

“Bragging to his friends.” She clenched her jaw, recalling the conversation that she had overheard. 

> She had been in the computer labs all day, working to hack into Google, when Tomas strolled in, giving handshakes to each of his teammates sitting at computers. 
> 
> “Hey, Koroa, where’d you go last night? We were gonna get a 30 pack and play some 2k…” one of the boys asked. 
> 
> Tomas just grinned and said, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” 
> 
> That piqued the interest of the shorter boy in the group. Root thought she remembered his name being Leon. “Oh, shit. Who was it? That cheerleader..? Ooh, or Zoe Morgan?” 
> 
> “She’s so hot, dude.” the other friend said. Root grinned and bookmarked that piece of information. _I’ll have to let Zoe know she’s got a few admirers_
> 
> “No, even hotter,” Tomas was still wearing his shit-eating grin. “I hooked up with Shaw last night.” 
> 
> Root’s head snapped toward the group of teenage boys, in shock. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. 
> 
> “Whatever, dude. Everyone knows that Shaw only hooks up with people from other schools.” 
> 
> “Yeah,” Leon agreed, “I tried to get with her once at a party and that’s exactly what she told me.” 
> 
> “I swear.” Root could feel her anger reaching a boiling point as Tomas spoke. “She was fucking amazing, too.” 

Root shook her head free of that memory. It had played in her mind, along with a few images of the two of them together from her imagination, on a loop. 

“How did you handle that information,” the doctor inquired. 

“I took a couple of days to think, and decided to tell her that we should just be friends.” 

“Well, Samantha, I think that was very mature of you. It shows great strides in the management of your temper.” 

Root nodded. _Okay, so I’m gonna leave out the part where I planted porn on his computer for his parents to find…. And definitely not mention giving him a flat tire._

The doctor continued his praise of his patient’s progress. “You made a healthy decision for yourself, and I think that you should think of rewarding yourself by moving on.” 

Root smiled politely as she stood to leave. “Well, so long, doc. And thanks for all the help. I think I really am much better, now.” 

She left the office, passing a receptionist along the way, and entered the elevator. _Move on. That’s not a bad idea._ Root hit the button to take her to the ground level, and waited as the elevator doors shut. She watched the floor level numbers as they changed from 6 to 5 to 4, and waited as the elevator came to a stop on 3. 

The doors opened, and Root was met with the gaze of a pretty, brown haired teen. She moved to the side, allowing the other girl space to choose where she wanted to stand. Root unabashedly checked the other girl out. 

The girl noticed Root’s eyes roaming, and she smiled. _You’re supposed to be moving on, Root. Go for it._

The elevator doors were about to stop on the ground level. Root knew that she was running out of time, so she stuck out her hand toward the girl, and offered a smile. “Hi, I’m Root.” 

The girl slipped her soft hand into Root’s and stepped closer. “I’m Hanna.” 

They shook hands slowly, and never broke their gaze. “Are you doing anything right now, Hanna?” Root asked. 

The girl grinned at Root while she bit the corner of her bottom lip. “Nothing at all,” she replied.


	14. Moving On

Shaw awoke early, before her alarm, on Tuesday morning. She reached over to her nightstand to check her phone and saw two texts from Joss. 

Joss (12:37am): Are you up?? 

Joss (12:56 am): Find me in the morning. 

Shaw frowned and wondered what was so important that kept Joss up so late. It wasn’t often that Shaw was asleep before her friend. She clicked her phone lock, choosing to get up to start the day instead of laying in her bed and aimlessly scrolling social media for thirty more minutes until her alarm goes off. 

She dressed and readied for school, deciding to lift weights this morning, as opposed to running.

It had been 11 days since Root had told her that she just wanted to be friends. They had gone back to their usual thing, just like Shaw had hoped. On the few days that Root attended class, she would casually toss Shaw a snack before turning toward the teacher to focus on the day’s instruction. She still showed up to study on Tuesday, though she left as soon as she finished helping Joss with a few Calculus problems. She still showed at Shaw’s Thursday game with Reese; however, this time, she didn’t wait around to talk after. Root would still joke and smile with the group, like nothing had ever happened. Everything was normal except for the way that Root looked whenever Shaw managed to get the other girl to meet her gaze. 

Her eyes didn’t lock onto Shaw’s anymore. There weren’t any blinding smiles in her direction. There weren’t random, lingering touches that would burn Shaw’s skin in the most perfect way. Shaw was feeling the effects of withdrawal from Root’s flirting and innuendo, which was something that she hadn’t expected to feel. 

Shaw made it to the deserted gym at 6:50 am, thankful to have time to herself to start the day. She inserted headphones into her ears and clicked on one of her workout playlists on her phone. 

45 minutes later, Shaw had a coat of sweat gleaming on her skin and a dull ache in her muscles. She knew Joss would be waiting for her somewhere to talk about whatever was on her mind, so she took a quick shower in the locker room and got ready for the school day. 

At 7:45, she was out of the shower and sent a text to Joss asking where she was. Almost instantaneously, she received her reply. 

Joss (7:45 am): Just got to school. Where are you? I’ll come find you. 

Shaw (7:46 am): Gym

Two minutes later, Joss was walking in with Zoe following quickly behind. “What’s going on?” Shaw asked. She was sitting on the first row of bleachers, arms propped up on the row behind her, with her legs outstretched and crossed on the floor in front. Joss and Zoe sat on either side of her. “Okay, you guys are being weird. Seriously, what’s up?” 

“We have some news to tell you,” Zoe began. “Actually, Joss is the one that saw everything, so maybe she should tell you.” 

Shaw looked to Joss with a frown, confused as to what could possibly have happened that her friends were so nervous to talk to her about. 

“Well, I was over at John’s house, watching a movie last night… ya know, just casually hanging out and stuff in the living room.” 

Shaw didn’t understand why any of this had anything to do with her. “Great… so, you’re dating… I mean thanks for the update, but I kinda already knew that..” 

“No, that’s not what I have to tell you. It’s what happened while I was over there.” 

“What? Did he _do_ something?” Shaw asked. 

“No. Well, I mean, yes, but nothing that I didn’t want him to do…” Joss, realizing she had gotten sidetracked, shook her head and focused. “No, I saw Root.” 

“Yeah, she lives in the same house with Reese. So, you see Root, like, every day. What’s the big deal?” 

Joss paused for a few seconds before replying. “She wasn’t alone, Shaw.” 

Shaw frowned, wondering why it felt like she had been punched in the gut and wondering why her heart rate suddenly picked up. “Who was it?” 

“I asked John, and he said her name is Hanna. He said that they’ve been together every day since they met about a week and a half ago.” 

“Did you talk to Root?” 

“A little. She saw us on the couch and said that they would go to her room to give us some privacy.” Joss looked at her friend, apologetic eyes. She didn’t want to be relaying this kind of information to her friend, but she knew that Shaw would want to know. 

Zoe noticed the pensive look on Shaw’s face and nudged her a little with her elbow. “Listen, this doesn’t really mean anything, right? I mean, you could still have a chance with her...” 

“No… no, I’m glad she’s with someone. I should be as happy for her as I am for Joss. That’s what friends do... and to be friends is what I wanted.” Shaw sounded more like she was trying to convince herself. 

Shaw got up from the bleachers and walked out into the hallway that led to her first class of the day. She wondered what kind of girl Root had ended up spending every day with. She wondered if this girl would be able to give Root everything that she couldn’t. 

She rounded the corner and saw Root walking a few steps ahead of her, typing on her phone. 

“Hey,” Shaw called out to the other woman. As Root turned around, clutching her phone in both hands, Shaw noticed that she had been smiling at her text. 

“Hey, Shaw.” _Sweetie. Sameen. Darlin’. That’s what she should be calling you._

“Uh…” _Quick, Shaw. Find a reason to talk to her._ “Uh.. Oh! I was gonna see if you were gonna come study tonight. It’s Tuesday, after all…” Shaw didn’t even recognize her own voice. Was she actually trying to sound friendly? 

“Oh, I forgot what day it was. I actually made plans already.” The girls walked down the hallway together, unknowingly taking each step in sync. 

“What kind of plans?” Shaw asked, hoping she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt. 

“Well, it’s a kind of…. date.” 

“Oh, okay…” Shaw was frowning and looking at the ground while she walked. Suddenly, Shaw had an idea. “Wait, what if you bring her along,” Shaw said and Root frowned at her, surprised Shaw seemed so insistent. “I mean, if you’re dating someone, then they should do the whole friend-meet thing, right?” Shaw was trying to cover her tracks, hoping Root didn’t notice that she just wanted to be around her, any way that she could. “Plus, I’m sure Joss is gonna need help from her personal Calculus tutor.” 

“Umm, well, I guess I can text her and ask if she’d mind stopping by with me for a while.”

“Cool.” 

The two reached their classroom and walked in. Shaw had to see with her own two eyes that Root could be happy with this other girl, and, more so, that this _Hanna_ could give Root everything she deserved; Everything Shaw wished she could give.


	15. Not Moving On

Shaw waited on pins and needles at work that night to find out if Root would actually show. Part of her wanted nothing but Root to be there, but the other part of her was nervous to see her with someone else. 

Curiosity had gotten the better of her earlier in the day. She had looked the other girl up on every social media platform, but found nothing. 

_That’s weird. What kind of teenager has virtually no cyber footprint? Even I have a Facebook and Instagram…_

Shaw spent her time at work filing and checking out books to patrons as she waited for 7:00 to roll around. 

Joss showed up at 6:30 and set up at their normal table. Shaw saw her and walked over, placing her study materials down on their table. 

“So, Root told me that you invited her and Hanna to study.” Joss’s eyebrows were raised as if she were accusing Shaw of something. 

“Uh, yeah… I thought we should meet this chick if she’s gonna be hanging out with Root a lot.” 

“You sure that’s the only reason?” Shaw just stared at her friend, blank faced expression unchanging. “Look, I’m rooting for you 100%, Shaw. Whether you’ll admit it, or not, you’re my best friend. But it doesn’t change the fact that I have to be Root’s friend, too. Root is doing exactly what you wanted.” 

“I know. So, before this thing goes any further, don’t you think we should be good friends and check this new girl out?” 

“I guess. Just…” 

“Just what?” 

“Just don’t mess up a good thing. And I’m speaking about both Root’s new relationship _and_ your friendship with her.” 

“I won’t.” Shaw held up three fingers in a salute, “Scout’s honor.” 

It was an hour of studying before Root showed, with Hanna in tow. 

“Hey, gang.” Root’s voice rang clear through Shaw’s brain. “This is Hanna.” 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet all of you.” 

Shaw looked up from her book and capped her highlighter, giving the stranger a once over. _She doesn’t even look like Root’s type. She’s too… nice._

Luckily, Joss was there to say the pleasantries that Shaw felt unnatural saying. 

“Hey, I never got the chance to actually meet you the other night. My name is Joss. This is Shaw and Zoe, and I’m sure you know John already.” 

“Of course,” she said while shaking Joss’ outstretched hand. “I feel like I already know all of you from the stories that Root has told.” Root glanced Shaw’s direction and gave a curt smile. Root looked amazing in her light blue button up that was tucked into dark jeans and paired with a brown belt. Shaw wished she had made more of an effort in her outfit. Instead, she sat in a black tee and jeans. 

“So, we have some plans, and we can’t stay too long, but I thought I’d come and check if you needed any help with tonight’s homework, Joss.” 

“Oh my gosh, yes. Shaw refuses to help me with anything math related. She says you’re the expert and; therefore, I should only ask you.” 

Root seemed flattered at that, Shaw noticed. She watched as Root pulled out a chair for Hanna to sit in and then walk over to Joss’ chair to lean over her work. 

Shaw could see halfway down Root’s top as she leaned down, but felt Hanna’s eyes on her, so she didn’t let her gaze linger. Instead, she turned her focus back to her anatomy book and her leg began jumping nervously as she tapped her highlighter against the wooden table.

“Hey, Shaw,” the stranger began, “that was a pretty great game against Valley a couple weeks ago.” 

Shaw blinked several times and her brow furrowed, “Were you there?” 

“Oh, no. My coach has been scouting you guys for a few weeks, now. I only saw the stats from the game.” 

Shaw nodded, “So you play, then? What school?” 

“Oh, I’m uptown. At Lincoln Prep.” 

“Prep school.. The one for rich kids?” 

“Not exclusively,” Hanna answered quickly. 

“We have you guys coming up in a week or two,” Shaw acknowledged. 

“Yep. I already got Root to agree to come… Only took some minor convincing.” The girl winked at Root, who smiled back. 

“Well, yeah. Root comes to all of our games.” Shaw replied smugly. 

“Sure, sure.. I still had fun _pretending_ to convince her.” 

Shaw’s blood was boiling and Joss could tell. She looked to Root and said, “I’m sorry, I need a quick bathroom break.” 

Just before she was about to drag Shaw off to the bathroom to try to calm her down, Hanna spoke up and stood from her seat, “I need to go, too. Can you show me where it is?” 

Shaw watched as the girls retreated before turning to Root, whose expression was unreadable. Shaw decided to take the first step to break the ice. “You look.. nice.. tonight.” Shaw could actually see Root’s cheeks redden as she blushed at the smallest compliment from Shaw. Reese and Zoe were still sitting in their chairs, both pretending to ignore the exchange. 

“Thanks.” 

A few seconds passed before Shaw spoke again. She didn’t want to ask, but there was a question that had been pestering her since she found out that Root was seeing someone. “So, are you two, like, officially _together_?” 

Root chuckled and looked down at her feet. “What does it matter, Shaw?” 

Shaw didn’t know what came over her. She put her highlighter in the crook of her book and closed it shut. “Why do you keep calling me that?” 

Zoe knew that was her cue to give the two women some privacy. “Reese, why don’t we go see.... something over there.” Reese replied with a short ‘yep’ and the two walked as far away from the table as quickly as they could. 

“Keep calling you what?” Root asked, crossing her arms. 

“Shaw. You keep calling me ‘Shaw’.” 

“That’s your name, isn’t it?” Root said and started walking around the table, away from Shaw. 

She stood from her seat and followed behind Root to an all too familiar row of books. “I just don’t get it, Root. I mean--” 

“I don’t have to explain my choices to you, Shaw. Just like you don’t have to explain yours. She happens to be a great girl. More importantly, she’s a girl who’s not _afraid_ to like me.” 

“What does that mean?” Shaw asked defensively, but received no reply. Instead, Root crossed her arms and gritted her teeth. 

Shaw walked closer to Root and repeated her question. “What. Does. That. Mean?” She stood her ground, wanting an explanation from the woman. 

“You know what it means, Shaw. It means that I want something that you clearly aren’t willing to give. At least not to me.” 

Shaw felt like she had been slapped in the face. The words coming from Root’s mouth were vicious, and they burned Shaw’s ears. “How do you know I’m not willing to give them? You pause between girls long enough to think about it?” 

The words were almost spoken into the other girl’s mouth. They were so close that Root could feel Shaw’s breath on her lips. Root didn’t know how angry she had actually been with Shaw, but having her so close made Root’s expression soften. No matter how much she fought it, she still wanted Shaw.

They wanted each other. 

Shaw noticed the change in Root’s expression, like the wall was coming down. She took that as an invitation and captured the other woman’s lips in a searing kiss. She heard Root moan and she reached her arms around her waist, pulling her closer. Shaw wanted to take Root as her own. Both women opened their mouths, letting tongues and teeth clash in a heated, passionate kiss. Shaw began clawing at the woman’s lower back and reaching down to grab as much of Root’s ass as she could. The kiss deepened briefly, and both women were about to lose themselves in it, but, just before they could, Root pulled away quickly. 

“Shaw. No.” Root pushed her away roughly as she spoke. “You can’t just decide you want me now that I’m with someone else. It doesn’t work that way.” 

Words were caught in Shaw’s throat. _But I do want you. All of you. Like I've never wanted anyone before._ She wanted so badly to say them, but nothing came out. They were trapped in her mind. 

Root, with tears brimming her eyes, walked away from her faster than she had ever seen the girl walk before. She found Hanna, and the two of them left in a hurry. 

Shaw walked slowly back to the table and met Joss’s disapproving eyes. “So, how did not messing up a good thing go?” 

“Not so good,” Shaw said as she collapsed back into her chair. She was exhausted. 

Joss saw the blank look on Shaw’s face and knew that talking was not what her friend needed. Shaw was in pain, and though an innocent bystander wouldn’t notice, a best friend could always tell. Joss frowned as she threw her arm around her friend in comfort. 

_Zoe is NOT gonna like this._ Joss thought to herself.


	16. Dream On

She wasn’t sure how it started, and she wasn’t sure who had started it. One thing she knew, though, was that she was NOT complaining. 

Shaw looked down between her spread legs and saw seductive caramel eyes staring back at her. She felt Root smirk against her clit and couldn’t help her stomach clenching in response. Her hands were tied to her headboard by thin, black straps above her head and her back was arched in pleasure. 

_Fuck, Root._

Hands were grabbing her breasts roughly, and her pussy was being downright consumed. She felt Root’s tongue inside of her, reaching so deep and perfect, hitting her just where she craved. She felt Root’s nose grazing her clit as she surged deeper, and felt, more than she heard, the girl moan against her. 

_Shit, Root. You’re gonna make me come._

Root continued licking and sucking on her clit while she inserted two fingers slowly. Shaw had never gotten to an orgasm so quickly. 

_Oh fuckkkk_

She curled those long fingers just right to hit Shaw exactly where she wanted them. She was only seconds away from her climax. Root lifted her head and spoke with hunger in her eyes, “I want you to come for me, Sameen. Come in my mouth.” Shaw clenched down on the fingers deep inside of her at the woman’s possessive tone. 

*knock* 

Root returned her mouth to Shaw’s mound, making it hard for Shaw to hold back her moans. 

_So close, Root. God, I’m so close. Keep going… keep going._

Shaw’s breathing was labored and her legs were spread open as far as they could go. Her hips were lifting off of the mattress, signalling her impending release. She jerked and pulled on her restraints, feeling her body tensing. She wanted so badly to come for Root. To do exactly as she had been told. Her body was shaking in steady quakes and she was moaning louder, now. 

*Knock Knock Knock* 

Suddenly, Root between her legs began fading away into black. 

_No, no, come back._

Shaw opened her eyes to see darkness and faint glimpses of familiar surroundings. She found herself alone in her bedroom, hands knotted together behind her head, and an uncomfortable wetness between her legs. 

“Sameen. Were you having a bad dream?” Shaw’s mother asked as she cracked open the door. 

_Shit, was I being loud?_

“Uh, yeah.. bad dream, mom. But I’m fine, now. Go back to bed.” Shaw said sleepily as she turned onto her side. 

_Fuck._

Shaw willed herself back to sleep, hoping for the dream to return right where it had left off.

 

 

 

A few miles away, Root was in her bed sleeping heavily, just beginning to dream. Shaw was kissing Hanna slowly and tenderly, arms framing the other girls face as she perched above her. They made out for a while before Root started making her way down the girls left side with her hand. She stopped just above the white cotton panties and raised up to meet Hanna’s eyes. They had never gotten this far before, and she wasn’t sure that they should continue. 

She looked up to find Hanna and tell her that she thought they should stop, but the eyes that she met did not belong to Hanna. 

_Shaw_

She looked down at her hand, and instead of finding white cotton, she found incredibly sexy black boyshorts. Root licked her lips, immediately becoming wet from the sight of Shaw under her. 

She looked back at Shaw, unsure how to proceed, and was pulled by the neck into a searing, hungry kiss. She couldn’t stop the moan escaping her lips, or the involuntary thrust of her hips into the other woman’s mound. She rocked back and forth against Shaw until she felt wetness seeping through the other woman’s panties. Root bit down on Shaw’s bottom lip and grabbed both of Shaw’s hands, placing them above her head with a strict order to not move them. 

Root nipped and kissed her way down Shaw’s breast and toned stomach, finding that she loved Shaw’s submissive whimpers of want. She jerked Shaw’s panties away and went back to kissing those perfect, full lips. 

Shaw was being SO good, keeping her hands right where she had left them. It made Root fill with want, and there was only one thing on her mind. 

_I want to be inside you_

“Mmm Root, baby, I’m so wet for you.” 

Root slid two fingers in easily, losing herself in the pleasured moan that she earned in return. She latched her mouth around Shaw’s perfect nipple and bit down just hard enough for Shaw to clench down on her fingers.

She wanted to hear Shaw call her ‘baby’ some more. Root had never been big on pet names, but for some reason, it was a turn on when it came out of Shaw’s mouth. 

_I want you so bad, Sameen._ Root leaned her body up to meet those gorgeous brown eyes again. 

“Take me, Root.” 

And she did. 

She thrust with all her might, knuckle deep, biting down on any skin that she could find. Shaw’s legs were wrapped around her waist and she felt that perfect tightness around her fingers, telling her that Shaw was close. “More, baby, I need more..” 

How could Root resist? She pulled out, and lined up with three fingers this time. Reaching up with her left hand, she grasped Shaw’s wrists, holding her down while her back began to arch up, and up, and up. 

_Fuck, you feel so good, Sameen. Come for me._

Shaw’s moan burst out of her and her thighs gripped Root’s waist tighter. 

Root leaned her body up to watch Shaw come, enjoying every second. She waited until the fluttering around her three fingers subsided, and leaned her head up to meet the other woman’s face. Looking into Shaw’s eyes, she felt whole. She felt complete and happy in a way that she has never known. 

_Wait. No. You’re with Hanna. This isn’t right. This isn’t real. You have to stop._

Shaw faded away just as quickly as she appeared, leaving Root alone in her bed. 

She awoke with a hot sweat coating her skin and a slick wetness between her thighs. She looked down and saw a pillow between her legs that she had apparently been grinding against. 

_Shit.._

Root stayed awake for the remainder of the night, afraid to fall asleep and have the same dream. 

What had her even more afraid was that a large part of her _wanted_ to have the same dream. 

She had it bad.


	17. Zoe's Pissed

“I will never understand how two hot people who are so hot for each other will not just be hot together. Ugh!” 

“And I guess that means we’re done talking about outfits for my date…” Joss deadpanned. 

“And now Root’s with this… this... “ 

“Zoe. We cannot go through this again.” 

“Well, she’s obviously a rebound!” Zoe threw herself down into Joss’s recliner. “It doesn’t make any sense. I’ve looked at it from every angle.” 

“Yes, I know. You have talked to me about every angle and every theory behind every angle.” 

“What do you expect? It’s not like I can talk to Shaw about this. She’d kick my ass!” 

“Maybe that’s a sign that you shouldn’t be discussing her private life.” 

Ignoring her friend, Zoe continued, “Root was clearly into Shaw from the moment that they met. Maybe even before that. It doesn’t make sense that she would hook up with someone else. I mean look at what happened at the library! We leave those two alone for a second and they’re going at it like animals. They are clearly attracted to each other. Why can’t they just get over all of this bullshit?” 

“I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with Root being with Hanna.” 

“Ugh. Fucking Hanna…” 

“Shh, Zo. My mom is in the kitchen and I really don’t want to hear a lecture about your potty mouth again.”

Realizing that maybe she had been cursing a lot, and quite loudly, Zoe whispered “Sorry,” before continuing “Hanna was just rubbing Shaw’s face in it, you could tell. She was being a bitch!” She whispered another ‘sorry’, earning an eye roll from Joss. 

“Zoe, come on. We’ve got to be nice. Root is our friend--”

“Let me finish your sentence for you there, Joss. Root is our friend… who should be dating our other friend, Shaw. Yes! I totally agree with you!” 

“Okay, clearly any advice I give is unwanted, so I’m just gonna go and get dressed. John will be here in 30 minutes to pick me up, and he is always annoyingly punctual.” 

“Fine, I’ll leave..” 

“And don’t even think about calling Shaw with any of this. She really will kick your ass, and I won’t stop her, simply because I wouldn’t blame her.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Jossy-poo.” Zoe was walking out of the front door, heading toward her Jeep. 

“Never call me that again.” Joss said as she closed the door behind Zoe. 

_Don’t call Shaw, she said... But she never mentioned Root._ Zoe was smiling to herself while she typed on her phone. 

Zoe (4:41 pm): Heyy! I’m having a little problem with my laptop.. Any way you could come look at it for me? Pleeeeeeeaaaaase? :)

Root (4:50 pm): Lol sure thing. I’ll come over in just a bit. 

Zoe smiled at herself in her rear view mirror. She was determined to fix this situation, if it was the last thing she ever did. Her wolfish grin remained on her face the entire drive home. 

 

An hour later, Root knocked on the front door of Zoe’s house. 

“Hey, come on in,” Zoe greeted. 

“Thanks,” Root said with a smile. “So, where’s this computer emergency?” 

“Oh, that. Yeah, it’s probably just a virus from watching porn. No big deal. I’ll just buy a new one.” 

Root laughed, “Okay, well, I guess my services can be called on some other time.” 

“Actually I was thinking we could just hang out. Ya know, talk about this new girl you’ve got in your life. How’s all that going?” Zoe said, leading Root into her living room. Memories flooded Root’s mind, sending her back to the night of Zoe’s party, when everything shifted between her and Shaw. 

“Um, it’s fine.. I mean it’s good. We’re taking things slow.” 

“Ah, so, it’s nothing serious?” 

Root laughed, “I mean, we’re 17. Is anything ever serious?” 

Zoe was like an attorney, cross examining a witness. She was calculating in her questions and comments, leading Root exactly where she wanted her. “I dunno. You seemed pretty serious about Shaw there for a second.” With that, Zoe had the conversation on the topic that she wanted. 

Root smiled, realizing that Zoe was trying to manipulate the conversation and said, with a lighthearted chuckle, “Subtle, counselor, subtle.”

Zoe flashed Root a smile and bit her bottom lip. “Seriously, though. What happened there? I thought you liked her.” 

She realized that Zoe wasn’t going to let the subject go, so she decided to answer honestly. “I.. I guess I did. But then it was kinda like she chose what’s-his-name over me…”

Zoe frowned. Was Root really trying to make Shaw out to be the bad guy? She’s the one who chose Kelli over Shaw. She was about to tell Root off when she realized that Root knew information that Shaw had only told herself and Joss. “Wait. You know about that? How?” 

“That doesn’t really matter. It happened and I got over it. And I’m with Hanna now.” 

“Got over it? Uh, I mean it’s no coincidence that it happened on the same night…You can’t really blame her.” Zoe couldn’t believe that Root would be trying to blame this on Shaw. Yes, Zoe would admittedly agree that Shaw had her hand in fucking everything up, but she was in no way to blame. She stared at Root with a frown and her head tilted, waiting for her to continue. 

“Same night..? Yeah, that kinda made it suck even worse. We have this great kiss and then she hooks up with some guy..” Root said, trailing off. She really did not like to think about Shaw with Tomas.

“No, I mean you can’t blame her since it’s the same night that you hooked up with Kelli..” 

Root looked confused and shook her head. “Kelli? What? That was way before I even met any of you.”

“So, she didn’t climb out of your window that night?” Now it really _was_ like she was being cross examined. 

“Yeah, she did. She was in my room when I got home from the library. But nothing happened. I told her I liked someone and she left…” Root was slightly taken aback. She felt like Zoe was accusing her of something. “Wait, how can you even know about that?” 

At that moment, Zoe had put everything together. She stood and jumped on her living room couch throwing her fists in the air triumphantly, doing her best Tom Cruise impression. “Holy fuck! I knew it! I knew you wouldn’t have done that!” 

“Zoe.. seriously, were you there? Are there some kind of stalker tendencies that I don’t know about..?” 

Zoe ignored the question, “Root! I figured it out! There’s so much you need to know.” She stepped down from her couch and began pacing the floor of her living room. 

“Yeah, no shit.. Zoe... Zoe. Stop smiling… and stop high-fiving yourself… What the fuck is going on?”

Root stood, arms crossed, and waited impatiently while Zoe gathered her thoughts enough to speak. 

“There’s some stuff that I was asked to not tell you, but fuck it. This is too important,” and Zoe sat down, asking Root to sit down with her.


	18. Don't Call it a Comeback

Root left Zoe’s house completely shocked, to say the least. She got into her car, fastened her seatbelt, and sat staring out of her windshield. She kept replaying what Zoe had confessed to her.

> “What do you mean ‘Shaw was there’?” Root could feel her heart as it began to pound in her chest, and heard ringing in her ears. She could barely hear Zoe’s response over it. 
> 
> “She found your phone at the library that night after you left, so she decided to go give it to you in person. When she got there, she saw Kelli climb out of your window.” 
> 
> “And she assumed I slept with her?” 
> 
> “Apparently Kelli told her that you had. And Shaw said that she saw a bite mark, so--”
> 
> “Fuck.. Shaw was there. She actually _did_ want to try this.” Root sat, marvelling in the revelation. She was breathing heavily, and the world around her felt almost dream-like. 
> 
> “So you didn’t really sleep with her?” 
> 
> “No.. Well, not that night. She tried to, but I couldn’t.. She wasn’t Shaw,” Root confessed. 
> 
> “And with Hanna?”
> 
> “No, not with her either.” _How could I with Shaw invading my every thought?_
> 
> “What are you gonna do?” Zoe asked. 
> 
> Root waited a few seconds before replying with the most honest ‘I don’t know’ that Zoe has ever heard. 

Minutes later, Root started her car to leave Zoe’s house. She drove aimlessly, mulling over every bit of information that she had learned. She realized that she had read the entire situation wrong. Shaw actually had wanted her.. and she had fucked everything up. Root knew what she had to do next. She had to be honest with the situation, and with everyone involved. She had to talk to Hanna. 

She confidently changed her course, and began driving toward her destination. 

 

In the meantime, Zoe was still pissed. 

_Kelli. That fucking bitch. Starting all this shit. I don’t care how great Root is in bed. You don’t fuck with Shaw._

Luckily, Zoe happened to know where the gymnastics team worked out after school. 

Zoe found herself at the ‘Danger Zone’ thirty minutes later. 

_Dumbest fucking name for a gym I’ve ever heard. Of course Kelli would be here._

She walked through the automatic glass doors and approached the front desk. Behind it was a serious looking bald man who couldn’t be more than 22 years old. He was on the phone with, what Zoe could only assume was, an angry parent. He took one look at Zoe and subconsciously licked his lips while his eyes trailed down her body. 

_Oh, this is gonna be too easy._

She pretended to bend down and tie her shoe so that she could tug her v-neck down lower, revealing more of her favorite…. assets. When she stood, the man was ending his phone call and turning to offer her some help. 

“Hi, how can I help you today?” 

“Hi, my name is Paige. My little sister accidentally forgot my mom’s phone somewhere in the locker room. I was just wondering if I could go in and look for it?” 

“Oh, uh, we actually aren’t allowed to let outsiders go into the locker rooms.”

“Of course, I understand. It’s just really important. Is there any way that you could, maybe, escort me back there? Or you go look for it instead?” 

“Well, I’m not supposed to. But I’ll make an exception this time. Follow me, and we can go get that phone for you.” 

“Oh, thank you! You’ll be an absolute hero in my house!” 

Bryce, or ‘bald Bryce’ as Zoe decided to call him, had almost taken all of the fun out of fucking with Kelli by making it too easy. Zoe was still determined to make the most of it, though. 

“I really appreciate you making an exception for me. My mom would have been so upset.” 

“It’s no problem, really. I just can’t believe you’re not an athlete here. You have a great shape for it.” 

“Well, I was going to, but then I got these,” Zoe said while pointing to her breasts, “and I decided that my talents could be put to better use.” 

His mouth gaped open, and Zoe deemed that a success as she pushed the door to the locker room open, leaving Bryce alone in the hallway with his thoughts. She quickly scanned the room, finding Kelli’s locker. She grabbed the girl’s phone and was surprised that there wasn’t even a password required to unlock it. 

_What an amateur._

Zoe made quick work with a few clicks and bing-bang-boom, she was done. She put the device back where she found it and strolled back out to meet the smiling Bryce. 

“Found it! Thanks again, Bryce.” 

“Of course. Anything to help a beautiful woman.” 

Zoe smiled and made her way back out the way she came. She hopped back into her Jeep, driving away, hoping she never had to step back into the ‘Danger Zone’ ever again. 

All that was left to do was send a few unwanted sex toy magazines to Kelli’s house. Kelli’s dad, a dentist and deacon at their super strict church, would surely appreciate seeing that. Zoe’s revenge was nearing completion. 

 

 

After a thirty-five minute drive, Root ended up at Hanna’s house. The sun was just beginning its last stages of setting as she pulled alongside the curb in front of Hanna’s home. Putting her car in park, she called Hanna and asked her to come outside. 

Root got out of the vehicle and leaned against her drivers side door with her hands shoved in her pockets. She felt terrible about what she was about to do, but it was unavoidable. She couldn’t be with someone else and feel this way about Shaw. It isn’t fair to anyone involved. 

The brunette came bouncing out of her front door, smiling as she approached Root. “Hey, babe. What are you doing here? I thought we were seeing each other tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, sorry if I’m interrupting anything with your family. I just need to talk to you.” 

Hanna frowned at her girlfriend and reached out to stroke both of her arms, soothingly. “What’s wrong?” 

“I.. I..” Root closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn’t want to hurt the other girl standing in front of her. She had done nothing wrong. Root looked up to meet her eyes. “I have to break up with you.” 

Hanna removed her hands from Root’s shoulders and took a step backwards, stunned. “Have to? Why?” 

“I want to be honest with you. It’s all you’ve ever been with me, and it’s what you deserve.” 

“Did you cheat?” 

Root shook her head and stared at the ground. Had she cheated? Were thoughts and dreams and wishes to have Shaw just as bad as actually cheating? She didn’t know how to answer Hanna’s question honestly, because she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. 

Hanna continued when Root didn’t speak. “I know we haven’t slept together and maybe that’s an issue for you, but you know why. I’m just not ready. I guess I can’t blame you if you needed something physical.”

“No, Hanna. I didn’t cheat on you. I had absolutely no problem with waiting.”

“Then what _is_ the problem?” 

“I didn’t cheat. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t think about it.” 

“So, there is someone else?” 

“I had feelings for a girl before I ever met you, and those haven’t gone away.” Root paused, meeting Hanna’s eyes again. “I really am sorry, Hanna.” 

“It’s Shaw.” Hanna stated. It wasn’t a question, and Root wondered how she automatically knew. 

Root quickly realized that there was no lying about her feelings anymore. “Yeah. It’s Shaw.” 

Hanna sort of chuckled, “Well, that’s gonna make tomorrow pretty awkward.” 

“Tomorrow?” Root asked confused. 

“The game. You were gonna come to it… Shaw and I play each other tomorrow night.” 

“Shit.. I’m sorry, I forgot. I didn’t mean to make that weird.”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Well, I guess I better get back inside.” Hanna was clearly upset. 

“Okay. I understand.” Root didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t wish any harm on Hanna, and she knew that ending things with her was the right move. “Take care of yourself.” 

Hanna nodded and turned on her heel to go back inside. Root watched her shut her front door before getting back into her car and driving back, spending the majority of the drive thinking about what she wanted her next move to be.


	19. I Wanna Wake Up Where You Are

The rain was pelting the ground in steady beats. Shaw could hear the continuous rhythm of the rain as she laid on the floor of her living room, doing some required reading for class. She was on her stomach, perched up on her elbows and forearms with legs outstretched behind her. 

Shaw’s mother was currently in the middle of another double shift at work, so she knew that she would be hanging out alone for the night. She’d planned to study, cook herself dinner, and then kick back on the couch to watch tv for a while. 

She knows most of her classmates are probably out somewhere drinking, or smoking, or playing video games, but all Shaw really wants to do is focus on her work. She wants to focus on her work and drown out all of the other shit in life that isn’t quite right. Focus on work and forget about being rejected days ago in the library. 

If she’s honest, rain is her favorite type of weather. She likes the sound of it, the feel of it, and how it drenches everything in its path. Shaw rolled over onto her back away from her book, sprawling out in the middle of her living room floor. Shaw stared up at the ceiling and listened intently to the sounds going on outside of her house. She closed her eyes, hoping to hear more. 

She listened to the rain hitting the cement of her driveway, no doubt forming several deep puddles that she could splash through on her morning jog. She listened to the drips and drops of the metal rain gutter. She listened as the whirring of an engine approached her house. 

_Wait. There shouldn’t be a car here._

Shaw jolted up from her relaxed state and went to the nearest window that had a view of the driveway. She peeked through the blinds, seeing a familiar looking car with its headlights shining on her garage door, and the windshield wipers steadily pushing the rain away. 

_What the hell? Reese?_

 

 

Have you ever met someone that you’re instantly attracted to? Someone that just commands every room that they step into and has you hanging on every word that they utter? When you look at them, you can’t help but to wonder what it would be like to have them on you, under you, around you, all of the time. It becomes less and less of a question and more and more of a wish. 

As Root drove away from Hanna, that is all that she could think of. And only one face appeared after every thought. _Shaw._

Root drove as fast as she could, willing the miles to go by faster. She glanced up at the darkening sky, realizing that she was driving toward a rainstorm. Two minutes later, sprinkles of rain began appearing like freckles on her windshield. She knew she still had fifteen miles to drive before being back in city limits. She was hoping that the rain wouldn’t slow her too much. 

Breaking her from her thoughts, Root’s phone rang out. She reached down to her console, glancing at the contact name before answering the incoming call. 

“Hello?” 

“Root. Hey. Uh, where are you?” 

“On my way back from Hanna’s. Why are you whispering?” 

“I’m hiding in the bathroom. I need a favor.” 

Root’s mind raced through every possibility that would warrant Reese calling her from a bathroom. Nervously, she asked “A favor? Like what?” 

“Your car.” 

“My car… What about it?” 

“I need to borrow it. I’m on my date with Joss right now. We just ate dinner, but I had more planned after this. Please? I’ll owe you one...”

“What’s wrong with your car?” 

“Nothing. I just planned out the date not expecting rain. So, now I need a car with a bigger back seat that we can both fit in.”

“Gross! Reese. Why in the hell would I lend you my car when you’re gonna… do stuff… in the back seat?” 

“Oh! No.. not for that reason. Look, I put together a dessert picnic to have under the stars, but we can’t sit under the stars with this weather.” 

“Wouldn’t it be just as easy to eat the picnic at the house?” 

“No, Harold and your mom are both there. It would be awkward..” 

“Yeah, that would be the worst date ever.” Root sighed, realizing that she actually like being relied upon by someone. “Just a picnic, right?”

“I swear. Just a picnic.” Reese answered. 

“Okay, fine. You can borrow the car. But I need to cash in on that favor tonight and borrow yours.” 

“Absolutely! Whatever you need. Thanks. I’ll see you at home in a few and we can swtich.” 

Root ended the call and drove the rest of the way home, watching as the sky darkened to blackness, and as the rain fell heavier. She drove with purpose, knowing exactly what she wanted and where she was headed. 

 

Reese was already parked in their driveway waiting for Root to arrive. She pulled up directly behind his car and watched as he jumped out, umbrella in hand, and walked over to his passenger side door. He extended the umbrella out, shielding Joss from any of the rain, helped her out of his car with an extended hand. Root stayed in her car long enough to share a quick ‘Hi!” with Joss. She left the keys in the ignition and jumped out into the pouring rain, going straight toward Reese’s waiting car. 

“Thanks again, Root!” Reese shouted over to her. She gave him a thumbs up over her shoulder and continued her fast pace to shelter. 

She waited patiently for the two lovebirds to leave, allowing her a free path to back out of her driveway. When she was finally able to, though, she felt a sense of panic set in. 

_What if I waited too long? Shaw could have moved on by now. Or worse, she could hate me forever with the way that I acted._

Root was frozen there, both hands clutching the wheel, terrified of 90 percent of the scenarios playing out in her head. She took three deep breaths, willing herself to press on the brake pedal and put the car into reverse. Even if Shaw did hate her, even if she had gotten over any kind of attraction toward her, Root had made up her mind. She would rather try and fail than to not have tried at all. 

She drove straight to Shaw’s house, hoping that the other woman would still be at home on a Friday night. 

 

 _What the hell? Reese?_

Shaw watched through her blinds as the headlights shut off and the driver’s side door opened. She walked to her front door, unlocking and opening it, curious to know what Reese would be doing here, but the figure that stepped out of the car was not Reese. It was the graceful woman that had invaded every thought and dream over a two month span. 

She gripped the handle of her front door as Root walked, through the rain, toward her. Shaw thought about slamming that door. She thought about making Root hurt to get even for how she has spent the last month, but in that moment, where it mattered most, she decided that she still wanted Root more than she would ever want revenge. 

Root had gotten a good coat of rain on her on her way under the awning in front of Shaw’s door. Her hair looked slightly darker and was probably heavier from the water in it, and with raindrops freckling her face, Shaw thought that Root looked positively beautiful. 

“What are you doing here?” Shaw asked curtly. 

“I came to see you. Can’t a couple of gals take a break from the rain to catch up?” 

“Well, I’m kinda busy in here, so no, we don’t have time to ‘catch up’. Cut the crap, Root. What’re you doing here?” 

“Well, there’s no need to be rude,” Root flirted with her tilted her head to the side. “Why are you so afraid to talk about your feelings?” 

Shaw scoffed, taking her hand off of her door handle to cross her arms. “Feelings? What feelings?” 

“Those feelings that I know you have for me.” 

“I am not having this conversation right now.” 

“Why not? There’s no time like the present, Sameen.” 

_Sameen. She just called me ‘Sameen’._ Shaw couldn’t help but enjoy that name flowing out of Root’s mouth again. It had been so long since she had heard her say it. “Shouldn’t this be some kind of thing you talk about with your girlfriend?”

“Let me ask you a question. What if things had been different? What if we’d actually talked after that night at the library, what if you’d never seen Kelli, or I’d never even met Hanna? What do you think would have happened?” 

“Well, Root, these questions don’t matter. We didn’t talk. I did see Kelli. And you have a girlfriend.”

“And what if I don’t anymore?” Root said, beginning to shiver from being outside after being rained on. 

“Then the other stuff still remains,” Shaw shrugged. 

“And if I told you that I didn’t sleep with Kelli.,” Root was inching her way closer to Shaw as she spoke, “that I sent her away because of you. What would happen with us then?” 

“What are you talking about?” _Shit, that could have actually happened._

“That’s the truth. That is everything that happened that night. And I broke up with Hanna.. So, now answer the question. What do you think would happen with us?” 

Shaw had a glimmer of hope pass through her at Root no longer being with Hanna. She honestly could care less if Root had hooked up with Kelli that night. She thought it over seriously, answering with a sly smile and hooded eyes that were trailing over Root's body, “It’d be hard to imagine both of us making it out of this in one piece.” 

Root tilted her head down. She smiled and slyly sauntered over to Sameen. “Be a hell of a way to go.” 

They both reached out for each other, Root pressing Shaw against the open door, and Shaw tangling her hands in Root’s dampened hair. It was a rough and passionate move by both women, until they slowed their movements, inching incredibly close to one another, and practically breathing in each others mouths. Root slowly brought her soft lips to Shaw’s mouth, managing to gently kiss the woman’s upper lip. Shaw’s mouth hung open, pure anticipation and want. 

She couldn’t control her actions. Feeling Root kiss her top lip drove her over the edge. She leaned forward, crashing their lips together and kissing with all of her might, forcing Root backwards and into Shaw’s house. She continued leading Root backwards, roughly, as she kicked her foot backwards to slam the front door closed. 

Both women were panting as Shaw grabbed Root by the waist, hoisting her in the air and carrying her up the stairs toward her bedroom.


	20. Come Together

Root’s legs were wrapped around her waist and she was hurriedly walking toward the staircase that would lead her up to her room. She just had to navigate through a maze of her mother’s wooden furniture to get there. What should have been an easy task quickly became difficult, though, when Root’s tongue entered her mouth. 

She found herself stumbling through the living room, trying her best to gain her bearings, but continued losing herself in Root’s kiss. 

She tripped on her book that was left abandoned in the floor, which forced her, and Root’s, weight forward, directly toward the coffee table at the center of the room. They crashed down on the top of the table with a hard *thunk*, and Shaw managed to lift her weight quickly off of Root, kneeling down on the floor below her. 

“Oomphf.. Shit. Sorry.” 

She heard Root hum as she saw her lift her torso up off of the wooden surface to latch back onto Shaw’s mouth. Shaw was on her knees, with Root’s legs on either side of her. She found herself thrusting her hips forward and raking her nails up and down the thighs spread out before her. 

With a low growl, Shaw picked Root back up again, surprising a squeal out of the girl and went back to navigating her way to her bedroom. Shaw had decided that kissing and walking were not going to get her to her bed quickly enough. When she reluctantly avoided Root’s searching lips, Root resorted to focusing on Shaw’s neck. She licked a long trail from the base of Shaw’s neck all of the way to her earlobe, where she stopped to take a tiny nibble. 

_Fuck._ Shaw slammed Root into the nearest wall, kissing her deeply and pulling roughly at Root’s shirt. She wanted the offending item out of the way so that she could feel Root’s skin on hers. 

“Sameen, you better get me to your room right now, or I’m gonna fuck you on your kitchen table.” Shaw took that as her cue, pushing off of the wall and carrying Root up the carpeted staircase. 

Shaw carried Root all of the way to the top of the stairs with ease before Root bit down hard enough on the spot where her neck met her shoulder to make her knees buckle underneath her. She crumbled down to the floor while a moan escaped her lips, breaking Root’s fall with the strength of her thighs and forearms. Root couldn’t help the tiny smirk that appeared on her lips. 

“Falling for me already, sweetie?” 

“Shut up.”

She moved her mouth to Sameen’s other shoulder, biting again, earning an even louder moan. She released the muscle from between her teeth and let her fingertips roam between them to the hem of Shaw’s sweatpants. The two women made eye contact, exchanging silent forms of consent. 

Root wanted so badly to know if Shaw was having as much fun as she was. Her hand dipped below the waistband, finding Shaw completely naked underneath. Root hummed her approval and pulled Shaw’s face down to hers to kiss while she explored further. 

She thought she’d have to work Shaw up a bit, or run a finger around her entrance to get her wet enough. She was so wrong. 

Root snaked her palm along Shaw’s trimmed mound, finding her soaked. Not only was her clit swollen and drenched, but her thighs were coated with an explosion of arousal. 

“Fuck, Sameen… You’re so wet. That’s a good girl.” 

At those words, Shaw whined into her neck, bucking her hips to meet Root’s hand. She needed Root. She needed Root on her, inside of her, wrapped around her. She growled again, gaining strength back to deadlift Root from the ground and hoist her so that she could wrap her legs back around Shaw’s waist. 

Root was so turned on by the woman carrying her to bed she whispered into Sameen’s ear, “Mmm, so strong..” Root couldn’t wait to reward her girl for being so strong. 

They made it to Shaw’s room and collapsed onto the bed in a heap of limbs. Their lips met roughly, before slowing to a soft, slow kiss. Shaw slanted her head the opposite way and kissed Root, both women trying to kiss all of the words that they wanted to say to each other. She pulled back, lightly sucking on Root’s bottom lip and rolling her hips down onto the woman. 

Shaw leaned back on her knees and lifted the loose fitting t shirt over her head and tossed it into the corner of her bedroom. Seeing Shaw’s body above her awakened Root in a completely visceral way. She drug her nails up Shaw’s stomach toward her breasts, causing Sameen to throw her head back. She quickly removed her sports bra and returned to kissing Root. 

Root’s hands were everywhere, scratching down her back, kneading her breast, toying with her nipples. Shaw couldn’t take much more. She could already feel wetness dripping down her inner thigh, most likely coating the crotch of her sweatpants. 

“You’re wearing way too many clothes,” Shaw mumbled against Root’s lips. 

“I agree. Let’s change that.” She grabbed her own shirt and lifted it off over her head, exposing a lacy black bra. Shaw quickly undid the clasp with practiced ease, and watched as Root’s top half became exposed. 

Shaw swallowed hard at the sight of hardened, pink nipples. The pause gave Root the chance to flip her onto her back. Root stood quickly from the bed, leaving Shaw on the bed, to take off her shoes, socks, and then jeans. She peeled off her skinny jeans and panties in a flash, looking back at Sameen’s naked and splayed out body on the bed.

“Getting impatient, Sameen? Had to take off your own pants…” 

“Mmhmm. And if you don’t get over here, then I’m gonna start without you, too.” 

Root was near the foot of the bed, knelt between Shaw’s legs, on all fours, slowly crawling her way up Shaw’s body. Before she made it all the way up, she felt Shaw grab the back of her neck, pulling her down into a searing kiss. Root loved the little show of power, but had to take back control. She needed to touch Shaw and make her come undone. She grabbed Shaw’s wrists and pinned them down above both of their heads. 

Root bit Shaw’s lip as she took her mouth away to whisper in the other girl’s ear. “I can’t wait to taste you.” She ended with a lick up the edge of Shaw’s ear, and felt shivers run through Shaw’s body. 

Shaw was lifting her hips up off of the bed, seeking any sort of friction that might lead her where she wanted. Her hands were still being held above her head, and Root had just started working her left nipple with her tongue. Root gave a short bite before switching to the other side. She was worshipping Shaw’s perfect, round tits. The magic she was working on them only made Shaw more excited to have that talented tongue in other places. 

Root knew that Sameen wasn’t going to last much longer with this amount of teasing. Hell, who was she kidding? Neither would she. She pushed down on Shaw’s hands, silently telling her to keep those hands right where she left them, and Shaw obeyed. Root’s lips were ghosting along toned, tan abs until she reached Shaw’s hips. She skipped right over where Shaw so desperately wanted her and went for the inside of the girl’s thighs instead. Root licked a trail toward Shaw’s center, tasting some of Shaw’s wetness that had gotten onto her thigh from before. 

That’s all it took. One taste, and she was hooked.

Root bit down, leaving teeth marks on Shaw’s thigh. The woman hissed, but didn’t flinch away from the pain. Instead, she leaned into it. _Does Shaw like pain with her pleasure?_ Root knew that was a thought that she would have to explore later. Now, she had more pressing matters at hand. 

She focused her attention on the glistening center right in front of her. Shaw was being so good leaving her hands clasped above her head that Root didn’t have the heart to tease her anymore right now. She spread Shaw’s lips wide with her thumbs and gave one long stroke of her tongue from bottom to top, which made Shaw’s entire body curl and her hips lift off of the mattress. 

Root licked like that a few more times, and she knew that Shaw was wound up enough to probably come from those simple licks alone, but she wanted more. Root placed her mouth more firmly against Shaw’s clit and moved her tongue from side to side while she circled the woman’s entrance with the pads of her two fingers. 

She felt Shaw trying to push herself onto the fingers and couldn’t help the tiny smirk that appeared. Deciding that Shaw had waited long enough, Root entered into Shaw in a quick thrust, making her arch and gasp. She watched Shaw’s reaction, and knew exactly when Sameen was ready for her to move those long fingers inside of her. When she felt the girl relax, she curled her fingers and began thrusting them in and out. 

“Oh, fuck… Root, yes. Just like that.” Root would have spoken back, but her mouth was busy licking and sucking rhythmically on Shaw’s swollen clit. 

“Harder.. Give it to me harder..” 

Root obeyed, ramming in a third finger, and thrusting her wrist to hit Shaw’s front wall. Shaw was clenching and unclenching on Root’s fingers, and she knew she wasn’t going to last much longer. “Fuck, Root… Yes! Fuck me just like that.. I’m gonna come!” Her body shifted and went rigid. Root curled her three fingers just slightly more, making Shaw quake and her legs tighten in a vice-like grip on Root’s head. Even with all of the pressure on her head, Root didn’t stop her onslaught. She kept sucking Shaw’s clit and fucking into her until she felt Shaw turn molten underneath her. 

Root lifted her head from between Shaw’s legs, finding the other woman’s eyes still closed, and her flushed chest still heaving. She was busy licking the remnants of Shaw’s orgasm from her fingers when she saw the girl’s eyes flutter open and meet her own. 

Root released her middle finger with a pop and smiled at Shaw. “Don’t think for a second that I’m done with you, yet.” 

“Mmm.. I hope not. But this time, I want us to come together.” 

Root slid up Shaw’s body and situated herself above Shaw’s face, with knees on either side of her head. “Oh, I think that can be arranged.” She lowered her dripping pussy down onto Shaw’s lips and reached her hand behind her to find Shaw’s sensitive clit. 

The question wasn’t ‘were they going to come together,’ but ‘how many times were they going to come together’?


	21. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and leaving comments!! They always help me to continue with this story. It's awesome and so appreciated! :)

_Bright. Too bright._ Root’s first thoughts the next morning left her in a complete state of confusion. She opened her eyes, immediately squinting and blinking several times in an attempt to will her vision to become clear. 

She glanced around at her unfamiliar surroundings, temporarily stunned, until she saw the naked body beside hers. She saw a tan back, dark hair splayed every which way, and red scratch marks down each shoulder blade. They were both covered with a dark grey comforter and their bare legs were just barely touching. 

The memory of the previous night played through Root’s mind, and she couldn’t stop the blinding smile from reaching her cheeks. She rolled over on her side and began lightly stroking up and down Shaw’s exposed back. 

Shaw began stirring from sleep and sighed pleasantly at the feeling of Root’s fingertips grazing her back. She turned her head to look at the beautiful woman lying next to her and was immediately transfixed on those honey brown eyes. Her breath actually caught in her throat. She was not prepared to see Root looking so gorgeous this early in the morning. 

“Good morning, Sameen.” 

Shaw hummed, closing her eyes and losing herself in Root’s touch. _You never like people touching you. Why is it so okay for Root to do it?_ She couldn’t shake the question from her mind. 

“Didn’t have you pegged as an early riser.” 

“Normally, I’m not. I guess I just can’t sleep when there’s a gorgeous, naked woman next to me.” 

Shaw looked down at her body, and smirked back up at Root. She hooked her leg over Root’s hip and closed the distance between them. Their lips met in a slow, languid kiss before Shaw climbed on top of Root, straddling her hips. “Ready for round two?” 

Root brought Shaw’s body down so that it was flush with hers. “More like round eight, but who’s counting?” 

Shaw shifted her hips, grinding down on Root’s mound, leaving trails of arousal behind. She slid back and forth a few times, enjoying the small sounds of pleasure coming from Root. She felt hands gripping firmly on her ass and knew that she would end up with bruises. Shaw leaned her body up and started riding Root harder and with more purpose. She threw her head back when Root let go of her ass to start working her nipples. There was no stopping her rapidly approaching orgasm. The only sounds in the room were of their heavy pants and the creaking of the bed.

“Ride me harder, baby.” Shaw obeyed and bucked her hips quicker and with more force. She bit her lip, trying to hold off her orgasm, wanting Root to tell her when she wanted it. Root must have sensed this, because she grabbed Shaw’s hips roughly and said, “Go ahead, sweetie.. Come for me.” Shaw held Root’s hungry gaze for two more rolls of her hips before everything went black. Her release ripped through her, making her moan and shake on top of Root. It took her a few moments to regain her wits enough to realize that she had collapsed fully on top of the brunette below her. 

“Not a bad way to wake up, huh?” Root flirted. 

“Yeah, I think that works better than coffee.” 

“Mmm, coffee.” 

Shaw chuckled, “Give me a sec and I’ll go make us some.” Root nodded and reached for her phone to check the time. Both women looked at the screen as it lit up and read “9:04”. 

“Is your mom home?” 

“Yeah, she usually makes it back at around 8, but she’ll be asleep most of the day. Why?” 

“Well, I was trying to decide if I needed to put clothes on before going to the bathroom to clean your come off of my stomach.” 

Shaw grinned, “Nah, you should just leave it. It’s a good look on you.” 

“I appreciate that. Maybe later I’ll get some of it on my face,” Root answered with a chuckle and a wink. “For now, though, I need you to get yourself off of me so that I can go pee. I had no idea you’d be so heavy.” 

Shaw rolled off of Root and onto her back. “Well, of course I’m heavy. I’m pure muscle.” Root couldn’t help but swoon at the girl slapping her own abs and the cocky grin that was being flashed at her. 

Both women got up, searching for clothes. “I’ll go downstairs and get us some coffee. We can lay in bed and watch some Netflix or something for a while, if you want.” 

Root tried to hide her smile, but she couldn’t help it. “That sounds good to me.” 

With a nod, Shaw pulled up her sweats and reached for the door. She tiptoed going down the stairs, not wanting to wake up her mother, who would be asleep in her downstairs bedroom.

She froze at the bottom step after hearing the unmistakable sound of a newspaper turning. 

_Shit. She’s awake._

“Sameen, come in here for a minute, please.” 

_Oh, fuck. Please tell me she didn’t hear us up there._ Shaw walked into the kitchen, meeting her mother’s gaze.

Her mother was sitting at their kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee. She could see dark circles under the woman’s eyes, and knew she must be exhausted after working for 16 straight hours. “Mom, why aren’t you asleep?” 

“I will be soon, but I wanted to speak with you first.” 

Shaw braced herself, not knowing what her mother was going to say. Would she disapprove of her being with a woman? Would she kick Shaw out? Would she have to go live with her aunt in Iran? 

“What did you do last night?” 

“Uh, well I studied for a while... And then I ate.” Technically, none of that was a lie. She did study, and she did eat (a few times). 

“Yes, I saw your books in the floor. I just can’t figure out why it’s pages are ruffled and smushed. Also, two of the candles from the coffee table are in the floor, and picture frames next to the stairs were knocked off of the wall. Know anything about any of that?” 

Shaw’s eyes went wide, and she was sure if there were ever a time that she could blush from embarrassment, now would be it. “Um… Sorry. I’ll clean it up.” 

“Sameen, I’m not going to judge you or any decisions that you make. You have proven yourself to be an exceptional woman, and a great daughter.” Shaw shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling slightly uncomfortable from the praise. She needed something to do to take the awkward feeling away, and she remembered why she came downstairs in the first place. She walked over the the coffee pot and grabbed a cup from the cabinet above. Her mother continued talking while she poured herself a steaming cup. “In all of my years being your mother, you have never allowed another soul into your bedroom, not even Joss or Zoe. So, that tells me that the person in that room with you must be pretty special.” 

Shaw couldn’t find words. She held her mug to her lips, and blew on the black liquid inside. Her mother was right. She had never had anyone in her room before, but she didn’t even hesitate with Root. 

Shaw nodded to her mother, agreeing to what she had said. 

“Well, I am glad that you found someone special.” The older woman chuckled and took a sip of her black coffee, which Shaw mimicked. “I just never expected you to be interested in John Reese.” 

Shaw splurted out the coffee that she had barely sipped into her mouth and wiped at the little bit that had dribbled down her chin. “What? Mom, I’m in no way interested in Reese!”

“Then why is his Lexus parked in my driveway, Sameen?” 

Shaw remembered Root showing up in Reese’s car the previous night. “Oh, uh… someone… borrowed it from him.” 

“Someone?” 

She didn’t meet her mother’s stare, hoping to avoid any kind of awkward conversation about her sexuality. “Sameen, you’re going to have to give me a name eventually.” Shaw paused, going back over to the coffee pot to top off her cup and to pour a cup for the caffeine addict laying in her bed. 

Knowing that it was going to happen sooner or later, Shaw gave in and answered her mother. “Root. Her name is ‘Root’.” 

Her mother didn’t say anything in reply, which made Shaw turn to look at the older woman in hopes that she wouldn’t be fuming with anger. What she saw, instead, was her mother smirking into her coffee cup. 

“Mom, you’re smiling. Are you delirious?” 

“No, my dear. I’m just happy.” The woman sat her mug down and stood from her spot at the table. “But if there’s going to be a guest staying in this house, I’m going to have to meet them.”

Shaw’s eyes widened, unsure if Root would even want to hang out again, much less meet her parent. 

“Relax, Sameen. It will be fine. Now, I’m going to bed so that I can make it to your game tonight.” 

Shaw found herself walking carefully up the staircase, trying to keep from spilling the cups of coffee with each step that she took. She entered her bedroom, finding Root laying in her bed with her hands clasped behind her head and her eyes on the ceiling. Root turned her head toward Shaw at the sound of the door being kicked closed. 

“There’s my coffee delivery girl,” Root said, sitting up and crossing her legs underneath herself as Shaw handed over the still steaming mug. 

Shaw waited until Root was just about to take a sip of the drink before speaking again. Root began sipping at the liquid, and Shaw took the opportunity to blurt out “My mom wants to meet you,” causing the brunette to spit and cough coffee on herself. Shaw smirked, glad that she hadn’t been the only one having that reaction this morning.


	22. Banana Pancakes

“Your mother..”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Wants to meet me?” 

“Yep.” 

“Wha… How… When..”

Shaw smirks and leans forward in front of Root, kissing her firmly, shutting her up. “Relax,” Shaw breathes out against puckered lips before grabbing her laptop and returning next to Root on her bed. 

Root had melted into the kiss and was still in a daze while she watched Shaw gather up all of the supplies for an epic morning of Netflix in bed.

“Who knew,” Shaw snorted. 

“What?” 

“Who knew that kissing you was the secret to finally shutting you up.” Shaw kept laughing, even as Root’s forearm shoved her to the side. 

“Shut up. I could always bring up that I had no idea kissing you would make you so… vocal.” 

“Oh, you’ve got jokes, huh?” 

“I would never joke about that, Sameen. I liked it far too much.” 

“Shut up and pick a show, Root. I’ll grab us some coffee refills and a pop tart or something. Your scrawny ass needs to eat, and I’ve gotta have fuel for the game tonight.” 

“Ah, yes. The game. Think I’ll skip this one. Would rather not have that awkward ‘seeing the ex while drooling over someone else’ thing.” 

Realizing that they hadn’t talked about it much the previous night, Shaw thought she should ask. “So, all of that is officially over?” 

“Yeah. Of course. I wouldn’t have come here last night if I hadn’t already ended it.” 

“Can I ask why? I mean, what made you decide to do that?” 

“Um, well, I talked to Zoe yesterday… and she explained a few things to me.” 

“Explained what things?” 

“She just made me realize that I had been unfairly holding a grudge against you.” 

“So, she told you.” 

“She might have mentioned that you stopped by my house after that first night at the library.” 

“I’m gonna kick her ass.” 

“Oh, stop. She was being a good friend. Either that or she was just tired of us being idiots.” 

“Idiot? You’re saying I’m an idiot? Now I’m offended.” Shaw grabbed at her chest, doing her best to feign a look of hurt. 

Root chuckled and bit her lip to stifle her grin. She was loving this playful side of Shaw. “I do so apologize! Can you ever forgive me?” Root added some batting of her eyelashes for extra effect. 

“Hm.. I can think about it while you’re on your knees begging for forgiveness.” 

“On my knees, huh? Okay.” Root grabbed both coffee mugs and placed them on Shaw’s desk before returning to the side of the bed and dropping to her knees between Shaw’s legs. She nudged the girl back onto her elbows and began yanking down the gray sweatpants that separated her from her breakfast. 

“Root, I was kidding. I didn’t really mean--”

“Shh… Shaw, you’re gonna have to be quiet this time.” Root continued pulling down until the material was sliding down her thighs. “Don’t make me gag you.” 

Shaw swallowed thickly, feeling aroused by Root’s demanding tone. She felt her sweats gather down around her ankles and pulled one leg free, giving Root access to inch her way further between her legs. She had a brief, panicked thought that she should have showered first, but that thought was short-lived as she felt Root’s velvet tongue lapping at her folds. Any thoughts other than that feeling were long forgotten. 

 

 

A couple of hours (and a few orgasms) later, Shaw was driving herself to the gym. The team was having a short practice to walk through defenses and plays before getting on the team bus to travel to the game. 

She managed to get all of the way through practice before being flanked on either side by Zoe and Joss. 

“Spill!” Zoe said with eyebrows raised and a hand on her hip. 

“What are you--”

“Nope,” Joss inturrupted, “uh-uh, Shaw. I can see your neck. Either you got throat punched by a crescent shaped fist, or that is a hickey that I see.” 

Shaw’s hand immediately clamped down over the spot in question. _Damn it. She’s gonna pay for that._

Zoe grinned at her friend, “So spill!” 

“Okay, okay,” Shaw paused, trying to find a way to irritate her friends as they had begun doing to her. They were eagerly waiting for the details, so it wasn’t hard to figure out how she could torture them. “I hooked up with this dude, uh, Matt I think was his name. I’m not sure. Maybe it was Shawn. Anyways…” Joss and Zoe both stood gaping at their friend. Their eyebrows shot up, and both women spoke at the same time. 

“Wait. What!?” 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” 

“What’s up, guys?” Shaw faked innocence, “You really that thirsty for details about some random I hooked up with?” 

Zoe was already in her own world, having a conversation with herself, and Joss wore an expression that was a mixture between confused and devastated. 

Shaw felt a sense of victory, having tricked her friends, until Zoe whipped her cell phone out of her bag and mumbled, “All that work for nothing. I’m actually gonna kick her ass this time. It’s gonna happen.” Shaw snuck a peek at Zoe’s phone screen, seeing that she had clicked on Root’s contact and the phone began dialing. 

“Shit. Zoe, what are you doing?” Shaw said as she snatched away the device to press the ‘end call’ button as quickly as possible. “Why’d you call Root?” 

“Because clearly she needs another push.” 

“Push? What the hell, Zo’ you can’t just-- Joss, who are you calling?” 

Shaw was too late. Joss’ call had already connected, and she was already speaking into the microphone. “Hey. Yeah, Zoe just tried to call you, but something came up. Anyways, we need to talk abou---”. Before she could finish her sentence, Shaw had grabbed the phone from her friend’s palm. She now had both phones pressed against her forehead and she needed a second to take a deep breath. 

She looked up at her two angry friends, pointing each of their phones at them. “You two are the most invasive people I have ever known, and you need to get it together.” Shaw then put the connected phone to her ear to speak. “Uh, hey.”

“Hey, Shaw. Miss me so soon? I must have left quite an impression this morning.” 

Shaw could hear the grin in her voice. “Yeah, you definitely left an impression. On my neck. Which you will pay for.” She did her best to walk away and speak quietly enough so that her friends would not hear, but it did not work. 

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Feel free to try your punishment any time.” 

“Then I’ll see you tonight.” 

“See you then, Sameen.” The two of them hung up the phone, and Shaw turned back to her two friends. Zoe and Joss were high-fiving and fist bumping through their ‘secret’ handshake. 

“Okay, so, maybe I lied.” Shaw said, which made both of her friends run over yelling that they knew it. 

“So can we finally get some details!?” Zoe pulled back and asked. 

Shaw couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her lips. She was in an extremely giving mood, though, so she decided to give in. “I’ll answer one question from each of you and that’s it. Now, let’s get on this damn bus already so we can get this win and get back home.”

Both girls cut their eyes at each other as their friend stomped away, and Zoe whispered “Must have been fucking mind blowing if she already wants a repeat.” 

“Okay, One: I can hear you. Two: Yes. It fucking was. And three: That counts as your question.” Shaw yelled back at her friends.


	23. Shaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the super short chapter! I was sick and not able to write a whole lot this week, but I will make it up in the next chapter!!

Shaw had her headphones on and was staring out of the window of the bus. She noted the passing trees and fields that had begun to blossom, marking Spring. She was enjoying the colors and the scenery that passed and wondered if she’d be able to capture any of it in a painting. 

She began to feel the familiar burning that signaled eyes on her. Shaw turned to see both Joss and Zoe staring at her, motioning for her to remove the headphones from her ears. She grabbed the earpieces, and let them fall to her neck where they clasped loosely around her throat.

“You both already used up your questions. I’m not a genie that’s gonna grant you more questions.” 

“Funny. Anyways, um, we just wanted to make sure you realized who we’re about to be playing?” 

Shaw looked between both of her friends, knowing who they were referring to, but not wanting to give it any thought. She planned to do her best to treat it like any other game. “Yeah. Lincoln Prep. They suck and I’m gonna make sure both of you end up in double figures.” 

“Well, I appreciate that, Shaw,” Joss began, “but I more meant about Hanna Frey.” 

Shaw nodded her head and kept an even expression fixed on her face, but did not respond in any other way. 

“Look, we don’t know what all went down yesterd--” 

“I know.” Shaw stated, but her tone was not one of acknowledging that they didn’t know information. It was more one of letting her friends know that she had all of the information that she needed on the subject. She trusted everything that Root had told her and everything that they had shared. That was all that she needed to know. 

“Okay, Shaw. We just want to let you know that we’ve got your back. Not just today, but every day.” Zoe had mustered up every ounce of seriousness that she had in her body to give that short speech. 

Shaw knew that those two would help her with anything, just as she would do anything for them. Regardless of the sentiment behind it, it still made Shaw a bit uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond. “Whatever. Enough of that sappy shit. We’ve got a game to play.” She turned away from her smirking friends and put her headphones back to her ears. 

The bus pulled into the prep school’s campus, and Shaw felt the familiar rush of adrenaline that she always gets before any type of competition. She thrived on that feeling. 

The team was shown to their locker room and told that there were 35 minutes left until tip-off. Shaw got dressed while listening to her game day playlist. 

She’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t been looking forward to this game all week. She’d psyched herself up over the past couple of days, fully intending to beat Hanna every chance that she got (and maybe throw an elbow, or two). After last night, though, she didn’t feel that anger anymore. Instead, she felt nothing but pride. 

She had pride in her team, pride in her goals, pride in her family, in herself, in Root. Hell, she even felt a strange sort of pride in the hickey on her neck. She was proud to wear that mark, which was a new revelation made by herself. 

Shaking away the sudden sexually charged thoughts that were beginning to run through her brain, Shaw wet to tying her all black Nikes. 

Coach Hersch entered the locker room, which, out of respect, made Shaw remove her headphones. He gave a quick pregame speech, nothing inspirational, ending in a team huddle. They broke, leaving the small room, and lined up to run out onto the court. 

Shaw glanced at the scoreboard, seeing that fifteen minutes remained in warm ups. She jogged around the court, leading the team through five minutes of lay-up drills before starting on her free throws. She had a pregame ritual of making ten in a row before moving on to shoot threes. 

After draining her eighth, the opposing team made their appearance onto the court. Leading the pack- Hanna. 

Shaw drained her last two free throws confidently before moving on to shoot threes from five specific spots that she had picked out. It was only a matter of a few minutes before she was called to half court to the captain’s meeting with the referees. She jogged to shake hands with each of the three refs and turned to shake hands with the opposing captains, one of them being Hanna. Shaw tried to meet her eyes when their hands clasped, but saw that her gaze was fixed slightly lower than her face on a specific spot on her neck. 

They released hands and Shaw swears that, even over the noise of music through the speakers and chatter of the crowd, she could hear Hanna mumble “that didn’t take long.” 

Shaw listened to the referees, nodding along to the same spiel that she had heard hundreds of times before. Truthfully, she was just ready to play. 

The captains meeting adjourned and each side returned to their teams near each of the benches. Joss, Zoe, Harper, and Brooks all gave Shaw ‘knucks’ as she jogged up to them. 

“Let’s get this win, ladies.”


	24. (Just Like) Starting Over

Root’s smirk had stayed in place the entire time. Through leaving Shaw’s house, driving home, making her way to her room, and climbing atop her bed, Root held a smile. She had gotten home after a full night, and morning, of sleeping with Shaw, and yet, it still didn’t feel like enough. 

With everyone else she had been with, there was this thrill of a new conquest. So, after she had gotten what she wanted, she was never any longer interested. With Sameen, though, she wanted more. She just wasn’t sure how to get it. 

She didn’t want to push Shaw away by seeking her out, but she wasn’t comfortable with her dictating how, or if, they proceeded, either. She would just have to do her best to approach the subject of exclusivity without spooking the compact ball of rage. 

Root strolled out of her room toward the bathroom to take a quick shower. She was sure that she would see Shaw after her game, and she wanted to freshen up for her. 

For the first time in a long time, Root had the entire house to herself. Reese had gone to watch the game, and Harold had taken her mother into the city to see ‘Hamilton’. She was extremely relieved to have a glimpse of that previous life that she had when she and her mother lived alone. It wasn’t that the change hadn’t been easier or more seamless than she thought it would be, but there’s just something nice about not having to worry about taking a change of clothes into the bathroom every time she wanted to shower.

Now she found herself leaning her long, brown locks under the steady stream of hot water, and enjoying the stings that she felt along the scratch marks on her back. Memories of the previous night came flooding back to Root’s brain, and she had to open her eyes and turn the water a fraction cooler to keep her arousal at bay. There would be plenty of time for that later. 

Root finished her uninterrupted shower fifteen soothing minutes later. She stepped out of the shower, wrapping a plush towel around her body before walking out into the open hallway. Steam billowed out of the open doorway, and the citrus scent of her body wash invaded the air. 

She made her way back to her bedroom, sneaking a peek at the time, seeing that it was just about time for Sameen’s game to tip off. She considered sending a text to Reese to ask for score updates throughout the game, but decided against it. She’d much rather hear Shaw tell her. 

_Hm, maybe I should come up with a reward system for Shaw when she plays well._

With the most mischievous look on her face imaginable, Root set to laying out her plan. 

 

4th quarter- 5:12 remaining. Up 17 points. 

While Shaw was standing at the free throw line, waiting for the ref to toss her the ball, Zoe found herself meandering around the half court line, about 5 feet away from Hanna. Never one to shy away from conversation, Zoe began talking. 

“Hey.” 

Hanna glanced over at her, but offered nothing more than a head nod. 

“Look, I just wanted to say thanks for not pulling anything tonight.” 

“Pulling anything?” Hanna asked with a furrowed brow. 

“Like you or your friends trying to hurt Shaw or something..” 

“I’ve got nothing against her. No reason to act crazy or risk getting kicked off of the team.” 

“Yeah, I just know with a breakup being so fresh and stuff sometimes it’s hard to think rationally.” 

Shaw sank the first free throw and stood waiting for the referee to bounce the ball back to her for her last shot. 

Hanna glanced at the scoreboard, seeing that they were down 18 before continuing. “The way I see it, Root decided who she was going to love way before she even met me. Hope they can figure their crap out.” 

Zoe was left there in stunned silence. Shaw took her last shot from the charity stripe, drilling it. 

“Damn it.” Zoe thought aloud. She hadn’t even thought about the fact that these two idiots would still do their best to screw up something great. Zoe continued mumbling to herself, “Looks like I’ve still got some work to do.” 

She jogged back down the court, setting up on defense while her mind was busy formulating exactly what she needed to tell Shaw. 

A missed shot allowed Joss to leap up and snatch a rebound out of the air before pitching the ball ahead to Shaw for an easy layup, putting them up by 21. With only about 4 minutes left to go in the game, Coach Hersch decided to pull his starters out to prevent any potential injuries. 

They all jogged off of the court toward the bench as they were replaced by the second string. Joss, Zoe, and Shaw grabbed chairs next to one another at the end of the bench as they continued to clap and shout encouragements to their teammates. The game was an all around anti-climactic competition with a final difference of 25 points. 

Both teams lined up, shook hands, and returned to their locker rooms to dress. Shaw was happy that her mother had made the trip to this game. Normally, she would have to wait around 30 or 45 minutes for Coach Hersch to stop chatting and ride the bus back home. This way, though, she could get dressed and they could go straight home, which would allow Shaw to take a quick shower before going to see Root again. 

Shaw was throwing on her clothes as quickly as possible and tossing all of her sweaty clothes back into her gym bag, making a mental note to start a load of laundry when she made it home. Zoe approached her just as she placed her game shoes into her bag. Shaw noticed a look on the other girl’s face that told Shaw there was no getting away from her friend. 

“What are you doing tonight? Wanna stay at my house?” 

“Uh, I don’t know. Might go see Root later. Just depends on what time I make it back home.” 

“Good. Even better. Maybe this time you’ll get the chance to talk to her.” 

Shaw scoffed, “I don’t really plan on doing much talking, Zo’.” She realized by the terse expression on her friend’s face that maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say at that moment. 

“So, what are you two doing? Talking? Dating? Friends with benefits?” 

“What’s the problem, Zoe? You were all for this an hour ago and now, suddenly, you’re acting pissed about it.” 

“She broke up with someone for you, Shaw.” 

Shaw knew that. She didn’t have to be reminded of that fact. Hell, they had just finished playing against the girl. Shaw couldn’t figure out why this was being brought up now.

Zoe continued, “She broke up with someone actually nice and smart and could have been good for her.” 

“Yeah, but that’s not what Root wanted.” 

“Right. She wants you. I’m just saying that you’ve gotta figure out how much you want her back.” When Shaw didn’t offer a reply, she kept speaking her mind. “Because if you don’t figure that out, or at least start that conversation, then I’m afraid that you two are both emotionally challenged enough to fuck it all up.” 

Shaw thought over what she thought her friend was trying to say. She took it as Zoe, with a little tough love, telling her that if she didn’t figure out what she wanted, then Root may think of herself as just a fuck buddy. She didn’t want that. And she sure as hell didn’t want to mess this thing up where she’d have to go back to being just friends. 

“So what do I do?” 

“Talk to her,” was all Zoe said before turning to grab her own bag and head out the door to her waiting parents. 

_Talk to her. Yeah. I can do that I think._

Shaw shot off a quick text to Root, making sure that she would still be able to hang out when she made it back into town. 

Shaw (8:17): Hey. Still free tonight? 

Root (8:20): Absolutely. House to myself, too ;)

She was walking back to her mother’s SUV to ride home when she read Root’s response, causing a small grin to tug at the corners of her mouth. She threw her bag into the back seat before hopping into the passenger side and returning to her text. 

Shaw (8:22): Good. I’ll be there around 9. Maybe we could talk.. 

She didn’t get a reply after that, and her mother began to drive, happy to let her daughter control the radio the entire way. The only stop that was made before returning home was to drop Sameen off at her car, which was parked at the school. 

They made it back home, and Shaw started for the stairs, hoping to take a quick shower. She was halfway up the staircase when she realized that her mother might want to know where she would be headed. “Hey, mom?” 

“Yes, Sameen?” 

“I’m gonna go see a friend tonight after I shower.” 

Her mother smiled back at her, “Thank you for letting me know.” Shaw nodded, turning to return to her task. “I’m still going to meet her, Sameen.” 

“Ugh, mom..” Shaw mumbled, stomping the rest of the way up the stairs. 

 

 

_Shaw wants to talk. That can’t be good._

Root glanced at her clock. 9:06. She started feeling what could only be described as butterflies in her stomach when she heard the sound of a car pulling into her driveway, followed by the sound of a car door shutting, and a knock at her front door. 

Opening the door and stepping to the side, the two women locked eyes. Shaw managed to speak first, despite being taken off guard by the honey dipped eyes locked on hers. 

“Hey.” 

“Hey, Shaw.” Root let Shaw in and watched the woman shrug her coat off to lay it on the arm of the living room couch. She tried her best to not let her thirst for the woman show. 

“I’ve been thinking.” Shaw paused, waiting for Root to close her front door and join her in the main room. “I… Um... “ she struggled to begin, “Well, we should talk about whatever’s going on here.” She gestured between the two of them with her hand. “Ya know, before things get complicated or whatever.”

“You may be right.”

“I just figured that we caused enough damage by not talking before.” 

Root nodded. She knew that Shaw had a point. They wouldn’t have been in that situation at all had they just talked to each other. 

“It was brought to my attention,” Shaw continued, “that maybe I should tell you what I want and then see if, maybe, that works for you, too.” 

“Okay, Shaw, let’s start there. What do you want?” Root asked softly. 

Shaw cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable with the subject matter being dealt with. “I’m not ready to be your.. your… girlfriend.” Her eyes were trying to look anywhere but Root’s face. She knew that she had to get all of this out before she lost her nerve. “But.. I also don’t want to be with anyone else.” 

“And do you want me with anyone else?” 

“No.” She said the word before Root had even finished her question, which made the taller woman smile. “I guess, what I’m saying is, I want us to hang out like we always do, but I also want to have nights like last night and mornings like this morning.” 

“Oh, you enjoyed that, then?” Root flirted. 

“Yeah,” Shaw breathed out. “I just, I know it’s not much, but it’s what I’m ready to give right now. Is that good enough?” 

“Yes, Sameen. That’s good enough for me.” The two women locked eyes, finally. 

“I just have one question. What did you like most last night?” Root asked, stepping into the shorter woman’s space. 

Shaw thought back to what really did it for her. She knew that Root had tapped into some sort of kink of hers, but she wasn’t sure that Root liked it as much as she did. She felt Root slide one hand onto her hip, and with her other hand, swept Shaw’s bangs behind her ear. Feeling Root’s touch made her want more. “I really liked when you were telling me what to do,” she managed to nervously whisper.

Root smiled widely, and tightened her grip on Shaw’s hip, hard enough to bruise. “I am so glad you said that. I did, too.” 

Shaw bit her lip and leaned into the touch. Her eyes were filled with lust, and she wanted to feel Root’s clever tongue against her own. 

Not giving in that easily, Root leaned back. “How was the game, sweetie?” 

“We won,” she said while leaning up toward Root’s lips. She felt the taller woman’s eyes bore into her own, demanding that she elaborate. “16 points, 9 assists, 4 steals.” 

Root leaned down to Shaw’s ear and whispered a quick “good girl” before leaning back to continue her plan that she had started earlier in the afternoon. “16 points, huh? Looks like you get a big reward tonight.” 

“Reward?” Shaw asked, slightly distracted by the hands traveling to her backside. 

“Oh, yes.” Root began walking backwards toward her bedroom, still keeping their bodies pressed together. “When I was showering earlier I decided something.” 

Shaw’s eyes had glazed over at the mention of Root in the shower. “What did you decide?” 

“To make you come once for every point you score.” 

Shaw felt her mouth go dry. _16 orgasms._

“Looks like it’s gonna be a pass out or tap out kind of challenge, Sameen.” Root backed Shaw into her bedroom door to shut it, and she reached her hand down to turn the lock. She couldn’t wait anymore. Feeling Shaw grinding against her with her back pressed against the wooden door set Root’s skin on fire. Their lips finally crashed together in a rough kiss that was all teeth and tongues. 

Root pulled back slightly, causing Shaw to reach out further toward her to keep the kiss going. “Sameen..” she said, avoiding the woman’s lips, but exposing her neck. Shaw took the opportunity to latch her mouth onto any skin that she could find. 

“Mhmm?” Shaw asked, biting her way up Root’s long neck.

“I need to know your safeword, baby.” 

_Fuck why is it so hot when she calls me that?_

Her mind went blank. She couldn’t even think of a word to use. The first thing she thought of she blurted out. “Green, yellow, red?” 

Root stepped back away from the woman, smiling. “That’s perfect, baby.” She walked over to her phone, tapping a few times, causing a playlist to begin through her bluetooth speaker on her bedside table. Shaw still hadn’t managed to get her back off of the door. 

Root sauntered back over to her, and, with a much more dominant tone, said “Now, Sameen, I want you to take off all of your clothes and kneel for me in front of the bed.”


	25. Satisfied

“Now, Sameen, I want you to take off all of your clothes and kneel for me in front of the bed.” 

Shaw swallowed hard and lifted her back off of the door, brushing past the tall woman in front of her while lifting her t-shirt up and over her head. Next came her pants. She stripped them off of her body, not daring to look at Root. She was already so turned on that one predatory look from Root might just send her over the edge. _How did she know how to get me like this?_

Root was eyeing the other girl and couldn’t help but to bite her bottom lip at the sight of Sameen in nothing but her sports bra and boy shorts. The taut abs and defined leg muscles were on display right in front of her, and she knew that she had to get her arousal under control in order to give Shaw all that she had planned. 

She busied herself walking around the room, gathering a few things and laying them on display atop her bed. She grabbed a dark blindfold, handcuffs, and a vibrator. She had spent the day coming up with a long list of things that she wanted to try with Shaw, and deemed these few things the most ‘vanilla’ just to start out with. After a second’s thought, she grabbed a towel from her closet. 

Root finally looked back at Shaw, and her breath caught in her throat. She looked so beautiful. Her eyes were cast down as she leaned back on her ankles that were curled underneath her. She was all strength and muscle, and as Root approached, she began breathing heavily out of her nose. Root reached her and crouched down to be eye level with the naked woman. 

She had folded the towel over itself to offer maximum comfort, and laid it directly in front of Shaw’s knees. She was bent down and taking in every bit of beauty when she took Shaw’s cheeks in her hands. 

Shaw met her eyes, listening closely. “I want you to trust me, Sameen. I want you to know that you can trust me. If you ever feel uncomfortable or out of place, I want you to tell me.” 

Shaw nodded her understanding and tilted her face up slightly more, silently asking for a kiss. Root smiled a little and gave her a slow, drawn out, kiss while still cupping the other girl’s cheeks. Before the kiss could deepen, she leaned back, must to Shaw’s dismay. “What’s our safeword again, Shaw?” 

Shaw thought for a moment, getting lost in the honest honey eyes in front of her. She knew, in that moment, that, for some unexplainable reason, she completely trusted the woman in front of her. “Green, yellow, red.” 

Root let go of her cheeks and gave Shaw a sweet smile. “Good girl.” Root stood and held out her hand to the still kneeling woman. “Will you let me take care of you?” 

“Yes!” Shaw said. There was no one else in the world that she would allow to see her submitting this way, and she, somehow, knew Root would be able to handle her just like she needed.

Root chuckled at Sameen’s eager answer. “Okay, sweetie. I want you to put your knees on this towel and take my pants off for me.” 

Shaw kept her eyes locked with Root’s as she lifted her knees one at a time onto the makeshift cushion and brought her hands up to the button of Root’s jeans. Root’s eyes lit up with pure lust. She lifted and threw off the loose fit cotton shirt. “You’re so beautiful on your knees, Sameen.”

Shaw pulled down the denim and let Root step out, leaving the brunette in only her black bra and matching panties. Shaw’s mouth watered at the sight. 

Root tipped her index finger to Shaw’s chin, locking their gazes. “I’m gonna take care of you, baby, but I want you to eat me first. Can you do that for me?” 

Shaw nodded in response. 

“Speak to me, Sameen.” Root’s tone was commanding and it sent chills down Shaw's spine. 

“Yes, Root. I-- I want to taste you.” 

She smiled at Shaw and stepped forward. “Then take these off... with your teeth.” 

Shaw gladly obeyed, running her tongue underneath the material and then biting the thin material and pulling down while her hands stroked the backs of Root’s thighs. After a minute of tugging, Shaw had the laced panties down around Root’s ankles, and she looked up to seek permission to continue. 

“Only your tongue right now, baby. I just need to get off so that I can take care of you.” 

She didn’t have to be told twice. She buried her face into Root’s folds, eager to get the taller woman’s taste on her tongue. She licked up and swirled her tongue around the already exposed bud, discovering just how wet Root was for her. She hummed at the sweet taste, wanting to swallow every bit that her lover had to offer. 

Root tangled her fingers into Shaw’s hair, not to lead her movements, but to ground herself. The first touch of Sameen’s tongue had her on the verge of orgasm, and she wanted to enjoy Shaw on her knees for her a little while longer. The pleased noises that Shaw was making against her mound only made her want it more. “Fuck that feels so good, baby.” 

Shaw looked up to find Root’s head thrown back, which could only mean that she was close. Shaw doubled her efforts, focusing on the clit in her mouth. She wanted Root’s come in her mouth. A few rhythmic sucks and flicks of her tongue had a gush of wetness pouring onto her chin. She kept licking and swallowing the mess until Root pushed her head away. 

Root’s chest was flushed and her heart was pounding as she came down from her exquisite high. “Mmm much better. Time to get on the bed, Sameen.” 

She reached down and waited for soft hands to meet hers, tugging upwards. Once they were both standing, she lifted the shorter woman up and laid her away from the toys waiting on the left side of the bed. Looking at Shaw sprawled out on the mattress waiting for her, she couldn’t help the mumbled “you look so good” from escaping her lips. 

Root crawled atop Shaw’s body. She kissed a slow, torturous trail down Shaw’s neck, toward the valley of her breasts, staying away from the nipples that were begging for attention. She let her hands wander all over the olive skin in front of her. She stroked at Shaw’s skin lightly, making the girl a whimpering mess before moving to cup her bare chest. She was in awe of the perfect, round breasts, and craved to have them in her mouth. 

She decided against diving straight in, opting instead to focus on the shorter girl’s mouth. Their lips connected in a slow kiss. They were the softest lips that Root had ever had the pleasure of kissing, and she had the brief thought that they could be the only lips that she ever kisses for the rest of her life. 

She shook away the overwhelming thoughts and focused on pleasing the body beneath her own. “Take my bra off, Shaw.” She wanted to feel every bit of her skin on Sameen’s. 

Before she’s even known it happened, the bra was off and thrown into a corner of her room. Now completely bare, she takes the opportunity to handcuff Shaw’s wrists together and place them above her head on the mattress. She heard Shaw whimper against her lips and knew that she had to give the woman some sort of release, even if it were brief. 

She ran her tongue along Shaw’s lower lip and dipped her head lower on her lover’s neck. She kissed lightly and licked a path down to Sameen’s collarbone while her hand trailed down to the waiting mound beneath her. 

Shaw’s back was arched and her hands were handcuffed above her head. She was taking in every touch and kiss that Root was giving her. The hand on her center was cupping, but not giving her the friction that she so desperately needed. She canted her hips up toward the palm that was against her, only to have the contact taken away. 

Root leaned over to her left, grabbing the blindfold from its place on the bed. She held it out in front of Shaw, asking “Green?”

Shaw nodded enthusiastically. At this point, she’s pretty sure that she would agree to anything that Root offered her. 

Root slipped the blindfold behind her head first and gave a kiss to each of Shaw’s closed eyelids before sliding it over, taking the sense of sight completely away from the woman.

She immediately took control of the woman beneath her by licking the roof of Shaw’s mouth, eliciting a low moan. She slid her hand up and down Shaw’s sides, letting her lover to become accustomed to her touch under the blindfold. She heard a moan and felt a twitch beneath her, letting her know that Shaw was ready for her touch in a more sensitive area. 

Root re-positioned and aligned herself perfectly between Shaw’s legs. She pushed her pelvis forward and connected with the other girl’s center, feeling lubrication against her mound instantaneously. Their cores met in steady rhythm. “Fuck, Root!” 

Without warning, she slid one finger deep into her partner. Shaw clenched and arched into her digit. Root moaned feeling Shaw’s wetness enveloping her finger. “Mmm.. Sameen, you’re dripping wet.”

“Yessss, Root. Keep going.” 

Root pressed her forehead down into Shaw’s breast bone and aligned another finger. She slid in easily, and reveled in the feeling of Shaw clenching down on her two fingers deep inside. 

“Fuckkk… yes, more!” 

“Patience, Sameen.” And she began a steady thrust into the woman. Shaw was keeping her hands handcuffed above her head so steadily that Root decided to reward her with a little resistance. She reached up and grasped the metal chain between the two wrist clamps, pulling and twisting on Shaw’s wrists, sure to leave tiny ringed bruises.

Root continued thrusting into Shaw relentlessly, not planning on stopping anytime soon. Her mouth was busy sucking and biting along Shaw’s left collarbone as she thrust in further than she had been all night long, making Shaw’s hips buck up in response. 

“Fuck.. fuck.. Root--” 

“Keep going. I want you to come for me just like this.” 

Root released her hold on the cuffs and decided on a whim to grasp around Shaw’s throat instead. She felt Shaw swallow and moan beneath her palm. 

“Fuck, Root.. I can’t-- I can’t hold it….” Shaw managed to groan out. 

“Go, Sameen. Come for me, baby.” 

All of a sudden, a gush of liquid surrounded Root’s fingers. She had her lips around Shaw’s nipple and bit down slightly, causing Shaw to clench and ride even more as she worked through her orgasm. 

She released the hold on Shaw’s throat and lifted the blindfold off of the other woman’s face.

“Fuck, Root! That was…” 

Root pressed her sweaty forehead down on Shaw’s chest, feeling the erratic heartbeat and heaves that followed her high. She turned her head to kiss underneath Shaw’s chin. “We’re just getting started, darlin’,” she mumbled against tan skin as she reached her hand over to grab the purple vibrator. 

“Ready for number two?”


	26. Whatever tomorrow brings (I'll be there)

Shaw was the first to stir from her slumber the next morning. She became instantly aware that she was in an unfamiliar space, and that there was a sleeping body next to hers. Root was soundly sleeping, breathing deeply on each inhale and exhale. Every instinct that Shaw had to bolt melted away as she watched the rise and fall of the woman’s chest. 

They were both still completely naked and only covered with a dark grey sheet. Shaw didn’t remember falling asleep, but she felt the pleasant ache in her bones from being fully sated. She had turned fully on her right side to gaze at the still sleeping woman next to her. Shaw took in the long, brown curls and the perfect jawline that framed Root’s face. 

She thought back to the previous night. Shaw knew that she felt ‘something’ every time she was near Root. She didn’t know what to call it, or even how to articulate it. She just knew that she was actually feeling, and she didn’t plan on stopping. 

Root must have felt eyes on her, because her eyelids began fluttering, slowly bringing her awake. Root’s eyelids were heavy as she tried lifting them open. She wasn’t sure what had awoken her, and she began squinting into the bright sunlight that made its way through her bedroom window. Finally able to set her eyes, she met dark brown orbs staring back at her, and she offered a sweet smile. “Hey,” Root croaked out, voice still heavy with sleep. 

“Good morning.” 

“How did you sleep?” 

“Fine I guess, for not remembering ever actually going to sleep in the first place.” 

Root smiled fondly as she got herself comfortable on her left side. “Yeah, you passed out after your eighth. Really impressive performance, but I think we can do better.” 

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to try again, then,” Shaw flirted, earning another sweet smile from Root. She really did like to see that smile. 

“Let me see your neck,” Root said, hoping that she hadn’t left any visible marks anywhere. “Looks fine. How about your wrists?” 

Shaw displayed them to the other woman. A small, red line was left on her right wrist, but other than that, no marks could be seen while wearing clothes. 

Satisfied that she wouldn’t cause Shaw any problems due to noticeable markings, Root laid her head back down on her pillow. 

“It usually takes a lot for me to bruise, and even then I heal really quickly,” Shaw felt the need to say. She definitely didn’t want a few tiny marks to keep Root from doing things like she had done the night before. It had been the best sex she had ever had. She’d never let Root know that, though. The taller girl would be insufferable after that. 

Breaking Shaw from her slideshow of mental images from the previous night, Root asked “What time is it?” 

Shaw shrugged her left shoulder up toward her ear. “Dunno. Thought if I moved to find my phone that I’d wake you up, so I stayed still.” 

“And you thought that staring at me wouldn’t have the same effect?” Root had a hint of teasing in her voice, but Shaw decided to be honest in that moment rather than tease back. 

“I wouldn’t know. You’re the first person that I’ve ever woken up to.” 

The two women gazed at each other, eyes locked in a meaningful look, before the sound of a door shutting broke the trance. Root turned her head toward her bedroom door, listening closely for any indication as to who was on the other side. 

The only person that she truly had to worry about was her mother. One look at a strange vehicle in the driveway would have her knocking Root’s door down to interrogate whoever was in her bed, which is why she had been so careful in avoiding any type of sleepover situation in the past. 

But Shaw was different. Root didn’t want to sneak Shaw out of her window, or put Shaw’s name under fake contact information in her phone. She was proud to be lying next to Sameen, and she realized that she wanted to prolong it as much as possible. 

Root turned back to face a smirking Sameen. “Nervous I’ll have to meet the parents?” 

“No, sweetie,” Root smirked back, “I just wanted to make sure that I still had time to kiss you properly.” 

Shaw’s grin slowly disappeared as she bit her lower lip. Her eyes were hungrily fixed on Root’s plump, red lips as both women moved forward to meet in a mess of tongues and teeth. 

Root fought hard to suppress the moan from escaping her lips, but when Shaw reached under the sheet for her leg and smoothly swung it over her own hip, Root couldn’t keep it in. 

She moaned loudly, and it was downright pornographic. The noise sent Shaw into overdrive. She flipped Root onto her back and settled between the long legs that opened for her. Shaw began moving her mound into Root’s warm center, letting out a sexy growl as she felt wetness coat her pubic bone. 

Shaw bent her neck to bite at Root’s earlobe while she trailed her hand down in between the two of them. As soon as her fingertip touched Root’s already swollen clit, a loud banging on the wall right next to their heads was heard. 

Muffled through the wall, the two women heard Reese’s voice. “Please, please, please don’t start again. I gave tou the house for ten straight hours. I need sleep.” 

Shaw snorted into Root’s neck and rolled away laughing, but Root was too worked up to share in the humor of the situation. She banged her palm back on her and Reese’s adjacent wall. “Dammit, Reese! Fuck you. I’ll.. (bang) get… (bang) you… (bang) back!” 

Finishing her tantrum, Root mumbled mostly to herself as she swung her legs out of bed. “Damn constant cockblock asshole.” 

Shaw sat back in bed, watching the scene and found herself grinning uncontrollably as a foreign feeling blossomed in her chest. 

 

 

 

 

The two separated shortly after having a morning cup of coffee together. There were no kisses, or lingering goodbyes, only the plan to meet up at school the following day. Shaw had her Sunday rituals to tend to, and Root wanted to her a little work done on a program that she had been fooling with. 

Once home, Shaw began changing into some workout clothes, stopping to look in the mirror to admire the three bite marks adorning her plump chest. She grazed one of the marks with the pads of her fingertips, appreciating the memory that flooded as she pressed down on it. 

She threw on a tshirt and hoodie since it was pretty chilly outside, and walked out her front door to run the 2 miles that she had planned. 

11 minutes later she was back in her driveway, pacing and trying to get control of her breathing. She was happy with her time, so her focus switched to her much needed sustenance. 

She was home alone, so didn’t bother with changing. She pulled off her hoodie and shirt before diving straight into her refrigerator, grabbing leftover pasta and garlic bread to heat up in the microwave.

Shaw definitely preferred fresh, crunchy bread as opposed to the greasy, soggy sponge that came out of the microwave, but she wasn’t complaining. 

After scarfing down her fettuccini and garlic bread, Shaw jogged up her stairs to her room. She gathered clothes on her bed and jumped in the shower before heading for her desk, where her journal awaited. 

Shaw sat down at her desk, like she had done so many times before. She gathered her thoughts of the week and began writing.

> Monday: Pizza for lunch at school. Home game. Win. 9 assists, 13 points. 
> 
> Tuesday: Worked. Studying didn’t go as planned, but got to kiss Root. 
> 
> Wednesday: Short shift at the library. Did chem homework after dinner.
> 
> Thursday: Practice after school. Made pasta and garlic bread for dinner. Took a practice college entrance exam.
> 
> Friday: Did homework. Root came over. Mom saw Root’s car in the driveway and wants to meet her…
> 
> Saturday: Easy win. Saw Root after the game. Had a lot of… fun. 

Shaw leaned back in her chair, rereading what she had written. She realized that she had mentioned Root in half of her daily entries, which surprised her. Normally, the only thing that would appear more than once or twice would be food.

She stood from her chair and immediately dropped into a pushup stance. She powered through 80 before her muscles started to tire. Not one to give in, though, she kept going until she hit 100. After finishing her last rep, Shaw heard her phone buzz from its place on her desk. She lifted herself off of her floor and tapped the home button to see who the text message was from.

Root. 

Shaw swiped her thumb across her screen to unlock the message. She saw an image of a bare mattress. Unsure what to make of the image, Shaw exited from the picture to read the caption. 

Root (5:13 pm): As punishment for his rudeness this morning, John Reese earns himself a bed with no sheets, blankets, or pillows. Thought you’d like to know. See you tomorrow ;) 

Shaw chuckled at the thought of Root sneaking into Reese’s room to steal all of his bedding. It seemed like an appropriate punishment, and Shaw’s sure that it’s one of the more tame options that ran through Root’s diabolical mind. 

Shaw (5:15 pm): Evil Root is a hot Root. 

Root (5:16 pm): As if you don’t think I’m hot all of the time..

_True, but I can’t let her know that._

Shaw (5:17 pm): Whatever, cocky. See you at school. 

Still smiling, Shaw tossed her phone onto her bed and made her way downstairs to start cooking some grilled chicken that she had spotted while rummaging through the fridge earlier. Shaw was moving around her kitchen, getting out all of the supplies that she would need to complete the meal when she caught sight of her reflection in her kitchen window. She blinked back at herself, wondering why she hadn’t noticed that she still had a smile playing at the edge of her mouth, and that her eyes looked completely relaxed. Shaw identified this feeling as contentment. 

She continued about her task with distracting thoughts of a particular tall brunette invading her mind. With each thought came another tug of a smile to her lips.


	27. Breezeblocks

Root was suddenly excited for school on Monday morning. Gone were the days of hanging about in an abandoned area of the school, hoping to avoid people altogether. Now, she wanted people to see her. She wanted to be visible to Shaw as soon as possible, if for no other reason than to be in her company. 

She found herself putting a tad more effort into her outfit and appearance. She felt silly doing so, because she knows that Sameen isn’t one to care about things like that. But, if there’s even an off chance that Shaw would notice, or appreciate her appearance, she wanted to be appealing. 

On this particular Monday, Root decided to don dark skinny jeans and a green sweater with her standard black leather jacket finishing off the ensemble. She looked hot. Even she had to admit it as she gave herself a once over in the mirror. 

Root walked out of her bedroom, nearly running into Reese, who was charging out of his own room. In his hand was a poster with bold neon letters on it spelling ‘prom?’.

“Hey, Reese. Sleep well?” 

Reese slowly nodded, choosing his words wisely. He didn’t want to make this punishment any worse on himself. “It was fine. The two towels that you left in the linen closet kept me surprisingly warm.” 

Root grinned at the mental image of the 6’2” boy curled up under a few towels. 

“Just out of curiosity, how long until my bedding magically reappears?” 

Root puckered her lips and frowned, pretending to give his question serious thought. In reality, she had already sentenced him to three full days of this punishment. The way she figured it, she had been about to have three delicious, toe-curling orgasms, which were denied thanks to Reese’s interruption. Three days for three orgasms seemed fitting. “Who knows… Better not throw those towels in the laundry just yet, though.” 

“Right..” Reese nodded. He had accepted his fate without so much as a complaint. He knew it could have been so much worse. After all, at least he still had his mattress. 

“So, what’s all this?” Root asked, gesturing to the things in Reese’s hands. 

“I’m asking Joss to prom today.” 

The two made their way into the kitchen to grab their breakfast. Reese got his protein shake from the refrigerator, and Root grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the countertop. 

“Nice. Better not let her stay on the market too long. She’s way out of your league,” Root joked. 

“I know. That’s why I’m asking her two months before prom. I can’t risk someone else asking her.” 

They both paused their conversation to grab car keys off of the hook near the front door. After stepping out into the cold February air, Root asked, “So how are you going to ask her?” 

“I thought I’d wait for her by her locker with flowers and her favorite coffee after she finished practice.” 

“Well, what are you going to say to her?” 

“Uh, I guess I thought I’d just kind of stand there..” Reese said while carefully placing the poster in his backseat so that it wouldn’t be crushed by his backpack. 

Root had leaned into her car to start it, letting it warm up while she finished her conversation. “So, no asking her to officially be your girlfriend? Just going straight for the kill and asking her to prom?” 

“Yeah, pretty much.” 

“Yep. I think that’ll work.” Of course it would work. Those two have been inseparable since they met. “Can't wait too long to officially ask her, though. We both know she’s not the type to wait forever.” 

“I won’t.” He said as they both ducked into their cars and headed for school. 

 

 

 

“Good practice, ladies. Let’s call it a day. Save some for the game tonight.” 

The team gathered around Coach Hersch in a huddle, all joining hands in the middle of the circle that they had made. Joss took the lead, “Team on three. 1.. 2.. 3..” 

‘Team’ they all said in unison before breaking off toward the locker rooms. Most of the girls on the team were in a hurry to be the first to the showers, but Shaw was never one to mind a little cold water, especially after a workout. 

“How was the rest of your weekend, Shaw?” Zoe asked, wiggling her eyebrows. 

Shaw didn’t even try to hide her smug grin as she looked the other girl in the eye. “Let’s just say it was… breathtaking.” 

“Oh, I am definitely going to need details on that!” 

“I don’t think you do, Zo,” Joss said, joining in on the conversation. 

“What? You’re actually saying you don’t want to know what has Shaw walking around on cloud nine, actually _smiling_ and looking like she had an orgasm for an hour straight??” 

“Nope. I think I hear enough about it from John.” 

Shaw let out an amused puff of air. “Serves him right. He saw my car parked in the driveway. He had to know what he was walking in to.” 

“There’s a big difference in what he was expecting and what he actually heard. He mentioned something about volume level and that he wouldn’t be surprised if the bed were broken.” 

The three friends entered the team locker room to the sounds of water running and music playing loudly. 

“Shaw, I’m begging you,” Zoe said while clasping her hands out in front of herself. “Please. Let me live vicariously through you.” Shaw rolled her eyes at her friend, but couldn’t help laughing at the seriousness in the girl’s voice as she continued. “I haven’t had great, mindblowing, otherworldly sex in, well, ever.” 

“Sorry. No can do.” Shaw replied simply. 

“Ugh! You and your moral fiber. What happened to the Shaw that would kiss and tell everything?” 

Shaw shrugged in reply. She wasn’t sure. Maybe Root was just… different.

“Maybe I’ll have better luck with Root.” 

“Sure. You give that a try. Meanwhile, I’m going to take a shower so that I don’t smell like a dirty sock all day long. You should think about doing the same.” 

Zoe turned to Joss as their friend disappeared into the cloud of steam coming from the shower stalls. Joss was busy gathering her towel and bathroom essentials from her locker when Zoe began talking. 

“So, do you think they’re, like, a ‘thing’?” 

“I mean, maybe?” Joss replied with a shrug. “Knowing the two of them, though, I’d guess that they didn’t do a whole lot of talking about their feelings.” 

Zoe knew Joss was right. She turned to her own locker to grab her bathroom bag. “Damn stubborn, gorgeous idiots,” she mumbled to herself on the way to a vacant shower.

 

 

 

They both climbed out of their cars. Reese, carrying a rolled up poster, flowers, and a coffee, while Root slung her laptop bag over her shoulder. 

“So, what do you need from me on this?” 

“Well, I need to set up in front of her locker, so if you could just stall her for a minute or two, I’ll be ready.” 

“Could have at least given me a challenge,” Root said confidently. 

“Oh, I think it will be. You’ll have to tear your heart eyes away from Shaw long enough to realize that you have to distract Joss.” 

Root’s mind instantly went to the thought of Shaw. Sameen, after just working out, looking sweaty and flushed. Sameen, who would have just showered, hair still damp and pulled back into a loose ponytail. Sameen, who would saunter toward her with blown pupils and lust in her eyes… Okay, maybe Reese had a point. 

Root cleared her throat, which had gone dry for some reason. 

“See. You can’t even think about her without going all spacey.” 

“It’s fine.. I’ll just program my brain to only look at Sameen every few seconds. The rest of the time I will spend stalling your girl.” 

“Ok. I’m going to her locker. See you in a few.” 

 

 

 

“If you’re not out here in five seconds, we’re leaving without you,” Shaw yelled into the bathrooms. Zoe had stood in front of one of the mirrors for fifteen minutes fussing with her hair, and Shaw had had enough. She and Joss had been ready for at least twenty minutes. 

“Okay, okay, I’m all done now,” Zoe said traipsing out of the bathroom toward her backpack. 

“Finally,” Joss and Shaw said at the same time. 

The three girls grabbed their things and set for walking toward their first hour class. Shaw reached into her back pocket for her phone, and was about to send a quick text to Root, asking where she was, when they rounded a corner to find Root standing in front of them. 

“Hey, team. How was practice?” Root said, looking directly at Joss, as she leaned against a set of lockers. 

“Practice was good.” Joss replied. 

“Waiting for Zoe to finish primping, on the other hand…” Shaw finished, which earned a short glance in her direction from Root. 

“Well, it paid off. You look great, Zoe.”

“I’m glad someone around here appreciates the effort I put in. Thank you, Root.” 

“Anytime, Zo’,” Root said sweetly. “So, game tonight?” Again, Root looked directly at Joss when asking the question. Only when Joss began replying did Root glance over at Shaw, which confused her to no end. 

“Yeah, we play here at 7. Will you make it?” 

“Of course. The season is almost over. I don’t plan on missing any games.” Root checked her phone to see the time, but Shaw noticed that it wasn’t her clock that she was looking at, it was a timer. 2 minutes and 14 seconds had passed since she started it. 

_What the hell is going on?_ Shaw wondered. _Why hasn’t she flirted with me yet? Is she mad about something?_

The four women walked together toward class, having one last corner to round, which would take them to their lockers and their class. 

When Joss and Zoe rounded the corner, Root stopped short, grabbing Shaw by the arm and pulling her back. “What the hell, Root--” 

Root placed a finger over her own mouth, “Shh… look.” She pointed around the corner, where Reese stood holding flowers and a coffee with a sign taped to lockers behind him. 

It didn’t take long for a wide smile to appear on both Reese and Joss’s faces. The two hugged, and Zoe whipped out her phone to take several pictures. 

_Oh, I get it now._ Shaw turned back to Root, looking her in the eye. “So, is this what you’re doing, now? Stalling us to play wingman?” 

Root just smiled in return. 

“So, uh, isn’t it a little early for prom-posals?” Shaw felt awkward even asking a question about the dance. 

“I thought so, too,” Root replied as the two women began walking after their friends toward class. “I guess Reese just didn’t want to risk someone else asking her.”

That made Shaw stop dead in her tracks, just as they entered the classroom. _Someone else asking… I hadn’t even thought of that._

Shaw went to her desk, placing her bag on the floor before taking her seat. She was lost in thought while Zoe showed Joss the pictures that she had snapped of the cute moment. 

_Root is hot. Like, really hot. And I know everyone around her has noticed. I mean, just look at her today._ Shaw looked over to Root, who was chatting away about some computer shit with a dude named Jason. Shaw could tell that he was trying his best to flirt with Root, but Root had her strictly business face on when speaking to him. Still, she didn’t like this guy's intentions. 

_Well, shit._ Shaw had suddenly come to a realization. _I’m going to have to ask Root to prom. And soon._


	28. Future Starts Slow

The last bell of the day rang, and Shaw hadn’t gotten one thought off of her mind. _How do I even ask someone to prom?_

Root walked along side of her on their way toward the parking lot, typing away on her phone. 

“So, I’ll see you at the game later?” Shaw asked. 

Root finished whatever thought she had been typing and hit send on her phone before pocketing her device and answering, “Of course. Wouldn’t miss it, and Joss’ biggest fan will be there, too.” 

“Right. Wonderboy wouldn’t want to disappoint his lady.” Shaw quipped dryly, earning a small chuckle from Root. 

The two were walking closely enough to bump shoulders every few steps, and Shaw couldn’t help but think that she could get used to this. “Still can’t believe he asked her… ya know.. to the.. the dance thing..” _Fuck. Smooth, Shaw. Real smooth._

“I dunno. I guess it was kinda cute, if you’re into that sort of thing.” Root said, pushing the front door of the school building open. The cool air hit them both, making Root tug her jacket tighter around her neck. 

“Are you?” Root tilted her head, confused by Shaw’s question. 

“I.. um, are you… Well, like, would you be the type of person, uh, hypothetically speaking.. that would be into..” Shaw was cut off from her rambling by Root’s phone dinging several times loudly from her coat pocket. 

“Shit, I’ve gotta run. That kid, Fusco, is panicking about his tech project due tomorrow. He’s going to pay me $100 to help him finish it.” 

“Sure, yeah. Do your thing. I’ll see you later.” 

Root smiled sweetly at Shaw, seeming like she thought about leaning in for a kiss. Instead, she gave her a small nudge with her elbow, “Later, Sameen.” 

_Almost blew it, Shaw._

 

 

 

Walking the rest of the way to her car by herself, Shaw spotted her friends, Joss and Zoe, walking together. She jogged to catch up with them, hoping to talk before they all left. 

“Guys, I need your advice on something.” 

The three girls were all going to their homes to eat before coming back up to the gym for their game, as they always did on game days. 

“What’s up, Shaw?” Joss asked her friend, extremely curious about what had her friend nervously pacing the school parking lot. 

“Not here. Come on,” Shaw motioned to her car for the girls to climb in. “Get in and I’ll tell you.” 

Shaw, Joss, and Zoe each entered the car. Shaw sat fidgeting with her steering wheel and staring out of her window, making sure no one else was within earshot. “Okay, you’re being super weird. Spit it out.” Zoe finally said. 

“I think I want to go to prom…. with Root.” 

Joss’ face split into a huge grin, while Zoe squealed in the backseat. 

“Enough of that, you two.” Shaw pointed at both women. “I need help.. I don’t know how to ask her.” 

“Not to state the obvious, Shaw, but you’re not usually one for big gestures. So, why wouldn’t you just say ‘hey, wanna go to prom with me?’ and be done with it?” Joss asked her friend. 

“Don’t you think I tried that?” Shaw threw her hands into the air and sighed loudly. “It just.. came out all awkward and wrong.” The three sat for a few seconds in silence as Shaw picked at the leather of her steering wheel. 

Zoe was the first to chime in, hoping to offer her distraught friend the advice she needed. “You came to the right place, Shaw.” She leaned forward until her elbows were propped on the middle console. “You should get her alone somewhere, ask her, and then proceed to have some more of that mind blowing sex that has you grinning for days after.” 

“Oh, for god’s sake.” Shaw said, rolling her eyes.

Ignoring her friends’ lewd suggestion, Joss gave her opinion. “You should get her some flowers and candy, really woo her, and then, in front of everyone, ask her. She’d love it.” 

“Ugh! No.” Zoe interjected. “Root and Shaw aren’t the sappy lovesick puppies that you and Reese are. Yes, you two are cute, but come on! These two are all insane sexual tension and it’s like an explosion every time they even touch. It’s gotta be done alone.” 

“That’s sort of true. Knowing Root, she’d jump my bones before even giving me an answer.” 

Joss nodded and explained her argument to Zoe. “But that isn’t what this is about. This isn’t just some steamy offer to hook up somewhere. I mean, Shaw is asking someone to prom! Did you ever think you’d see this day come? I sure didn’t.” Then, turning to face Shaw directly, said “You want it to be special.” 

“It can be special without being a cheesy cliche.” Zoe said. 

“Oh, please. It’s prom. Everything about it is cheesy and cliche.” 

Shaw started getting overwhelmed. “Maybe this is just a bad idea. I mean we can both go and not be each other's dates or whatever.” 

Joss and Zoe gave each other a look, realizing that Shaw was on her way to shutting down. They needed to talk her down before she decides it’s too much of a hassle to ask.

“Okay, think about it, Shaw,” Zoe began as she laid out a scene. “Root, dressed to the nines, perfect makeup, perfect hair, looking like she just stepped out of Vogue.” She could tell that Shaw was thinking about just that. Shaw’s mouth suddenly became very dry, and gulped trying to recover from the thoughts of Root looking amazingly sexy. “Now, imagine all of the other people surrounding her who, if they have eyes, will be vying for her attention and time. Do you really want to leave it up to chance and not go as her date?” 

“Without a doubt. She’ll get asked to dance and asked to go back to an after party by a few people,” Joss added. 

Shaw mulled it over. “When you put it that way, no. I don’t want to take my chances.” She slumped back in her seat and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. “Why does this have to be complicated?” 

“Oh, it’s not complicated. Just find a Shoot way to ask her.” Zoe said through a smile. 

“A ‘shoot’ way?” 

“Shoot. Shaw and Root. Keep up, Joss.” 

Shaw had heard enough. “Okay. Please. Stop.” 

“You know I’m right. It’ll be special as long as it comes from your giant, genius brain.” 

“She makes a fair argument. As long as it comes from you, Root will lo--... She will say yes.” Seeing the look on Shaw’s face, Joss stopped and corrected herself before uttering that ‘love’ word.

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.” Shaw was already formulating a plan. “Thanks for the pep talk, guys. I’ve got some work to do, so if you don’t mind getting out.” 

The two girls laughed as they got out of Shaw’s car to head to their own. “See you later, ladies!” Joss said before closing the passenger side door. As soon as the rear door closed, Shaw buckled her seat belt and set off for her house. 

 

 

 

  
After a quick stop home, Shaw found herself knocking on Root’s front door, with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder. Reese pulled the door opened, greeting her. 

“Hey, Shaw. Good to see you. Root’s not home yet, if that’s why you’re here.” 

“No, I actually came here to talk to you about something.” 

“Sure.” Stepping aside to let her into the house, Reese asked. “What’s up?”

“Uh, yeah. Look. I don’t want to beat around the bush. I have this idea to ask Root to prom.” Shaw fidgeted with the shoulder strap of her bag, not wanting to look Reese in the eye. 

“That’s great, Shaw. How are you going to do it?” The two walked into the kitchen, where Reese had just finished making himself a grilled cheese sandwich. Shaw’s stomach growled loudly at the sight, causing Reese to slide his untouched plate over to her and set about making himself a new sandwich.

Shaw immediately sat her bag on the countertop and took a large bite out of her food. She hadn’t realized how hungry she had been until now. 

“So, you’re asking Root to prom?” 

“Yeah, that’s kinda why I’m here. I need your help.” 

“Sure. Anything you need.” 

“Right. Your, uh, dad, or..” She didn’t know exactly what to call him. She knows he isn’t Reese’s biological father. Choosing to start over, Shaw just said the name. “Harold Finch.” 

“It’s okay, Shaw. He adopted me when I was just a kid. You can call him my dad.” 

“Okay, your.. dad.. is good with computers and all that crap, right? I mean he’s some kind of expert?” 

“You could say that.” Reese flipped his grilled cheese in the pan, and turned to face Shaw. 

“I want his help. Or, I was hoping he would help me make something for Root.” 

“For sure. I can introduce you and then we can see if he’d be willing to help.” Reese switched the stovetop off and plated his new meal. 

“I’d pay him for his time, if that’s an issue. I don’t expect a handout or anything.” 

“I don’t think he’d accept your money, but he would definitely want to meet you before doing any type of favor.” 

“That would be fine. It just has to be a secret. I don’t want Root to know.” 

“That’s not a problem. She said she wouldn’t be home for a few hours. Do you want to do that now?”

Shaw nodded, and the two sat enjoying the rest of their food before walking toward Harold’s office. 

Reese knocked twice on the wooden door before turning the knob, revealing a large room with one wall covered in computer and television screens. “Hey, Finch. I’ve got a friend here I’d like you to meet.” 

“Of course, of course. Come on in. Always a pleasure to meet John's friends. Can I offer you any tea, miss…”

“Shaw. My name is Shaw.” She stuck her hand out to shake his. “And, no, I’m good.” She saw the look of disappointment cross the small man’s face. “Uh, thanks, though.” 

“You’re quite welcome. Let me know if you change your mind, Ms. Shaw.” She nodded again, knowing that she would never accept the offer of tea. If he had offered some of that scotch behind his desk on the other hand…. 

“So, Ms. Shaw. How do you know Mr. Reese?” 

“Oh, uh, from school. We have a few classes together.” 

“Of course, I would have guessed as much. School is something that I deem very important. How are your grades in those classes?” Finch would often use education as a way to get to know people. 

At this, Reese spoke up. “Oh, Shaw is, like, top of our class. I think her only real competition is Root, but she seems to lose focus in class” he added with a chuckle and an elbow nudge at Shaw.

Shaw glared at him and shook her head. _Not helping, Reese._

Harold cleared his throat, ending the short telepathic conversation between Reese and Shaw. She didn’t know how to begin again from there. Shaw was never one for asking people for favors to begin with, now she had to ask a favor while possibly seeming like a bad influence on Root. 

Luckily, Reese spoke up to save the situation. “Shaw here needs a sort of favor.” 

“Oh? And what is it that I may be able to do to help?” Harold turned directly toward Shaw to ask. 

“Well, it’s really more for Root than me.” 

“Ms. Groves? What about her?” 

Shaw ignored the use of that name and continued asking for her favor. She was trying to be civil, after all. “She’s into all this high tech computer shi--- uh, stuff. Sorry. She’s into all of this stuff like I heard you are.” 

“Yes, and how would my expertise in all of this, as you so eloquently phrased it, ‘stuff’ help?”

“I’d like you to make something, so that I can ask her a question.” 

“And what might this question be?” Harold inquired. 

“I want to ask her to… to, um, go to prom.” 

“You want to ask Ms. Groves--”

“Root.” He slipped up once, but Shaw wasn’t about to allow it again. 

“You want to ask Root to prom?” 

Shaw nodded, not knowing what else to do. “If that’s okay with her mom... and you.” 

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. I’m almost positive that Rachel will feel the same.” 

Taking that as a green light to continue, Shaw said “I have this idea, but I don’t really have the skill set to make it work.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her laptop. 

“Why don’t you tell me your idea, and I’ll figure out a way to make it work for you.” Harold took the computer, smiling at Shaw. 

Half an hour later, Shaw’s plan was in motion and it was time to head to the gym. 

 

 

 

The game was won with relative ease. The team was huddled in the locker room, bragging about their twenty point win over their opponent, while Shaw leaned against her locker watching her teammates antics. She was pleased with her team's performance, and felt like they had a pretty good chance to make it deep into the upcoming tournaments. 

After explaining her plan to ‘Finch’, as she decided to refer to him, he stated that it would only take him about a day to prepare what Shaw wanted. That meant that she would be able to set her plan into motion on Friday, like she had hoped. 

The only problem would be trying to keep this secret from Root for the entire week.


	29. Stay With Me

Reese was leaned across the lunchroom table on his elbows, speaking in as hushed of a tone that was possible for him. “Finch said to tell you he’d be finished with everything this morning.” 

Trying to match his whisper and demeanor, Shaw leaned across the table, “Okay, but why are we talking like Batman?” 

“I was trying to be discreet.” 

“”Well, stop. It’s creepy,” Shaw stated, returning to her normal voice. 

“Fine. I was just going to say that you could pick your stuff up this afternoon.” 

As Shaw nodded, Zoe and Joss strolled up to take seats at the table. Joss sat next to Reese and gave him a peck on the cheek, while Zoe sat next to Shaw and slid her tray of food to her friend. It was meatloaf day, and Shaw seemed to be the only one brave enough to go near the stuff. 

“So, what were you two over here whispering about?” Joss asked. 

Shaw immediately cut her eyes toward Reese. “See. It’s not ‘discreet’ at all. It only draws attention, Bruce.” 

John couldn’t even complain about yet another Batman reference, knowing that Shaw clearly had a point. He turned to look at Joss, intending to come up with a lie to her question, but realized he didn’t want to lie to her. “Uh… we were… uhmm..”

“Oh, for god’s sakes, man. Nut up already!” Shaw turned to her friends after shoveling in another mouthful of meatloaf. “We were talking about the whole prom thing.” 

“So you decided how to ask?” Zoe asked excitedly. 

Reese turned his attention back to Shaw. “Wait, you told them?” 

“Yeah. You don’t really think you were my first choice for girl advice, do you?” 

John nodded in understanding. Of course Shaw would go to her two best friends first. Duh.

“So, how are you gonna do it, Shaw,” Joss began. “Rose petals on her bed spelling out ‘prom?’” 

“Ew. That’s as cheesy as flowers and a neon sign. No offense, Reese.” Zoe smiled sweetly across the table at the couple. 

“None taken. It worked, after all,” he said, grinning at the blushing Joss. 

“Enough, you two. Back to Shaw. How is it happening? Are you writing it on yourself in body paint? Ooh, is there lingerie involved?” 

The rest of the table just stared at Zoe, wondering why she is the way that she is. When Shaw finally got her thoughts together enough to respond to her friend, she saw a familiar figure saunter through the cafeteria doors, smiling brightly at her. 

“Shit. Okay, everybody shut up. We were talking about last nights game.” 

Shaw just finished her sentence when Root took a seat next to Joss. “Hey, team. Great win last night.” 

Zoe responded, while Shaw went back to her tray of food. “Yeah, we were just talking about it. That win set us up for a number one seed in the tournament.” 

“That’s great. Definitely cause for a celebration!” 

Joss had to agree, and decided to start planning for the occasion. “What are we all doing after school today? It’s Friday, after all.”

“I’ve got a thing right after school, but I’m free later--” Root began, before being interrupted by Shaw. “Actually, me and Root are busy tonight. Tomorrow might work better.” 

Surprised, Root tilted her head and bit her bottom lip. She definitely liked this possessive thing that Shaw was doing. 

Joss just looked between the two women, deciding not to comment on the bedroom eyes that Root seemed to have at that moment. “Um, yeah. So, tomorrow. I’ll text you when I figure out when and where.” 

The sound of the bell sounded, ending lunch, and sending the teens on to the last half of their day. Root held back from the group waiting for Shaw, who had to dump her tray in the trash. 

“So, I’m busy tonight, huh?” 

“Uh, yeah. I thought maybe you’d want to come over later.” 

“Sounds good. I just have a few things to do with Jason and Daniel and then I can come over.” 

“Cool. I’ll text you when I’m home.” 

The two caught up with the rest of their friends, and they all walked to class together. Not long ago, Root was specifically avoiding going to any of her classes. Now, though, she had friends. She had Shaw. She finally felt like she belonged.

The rest of the school day passed quickly. The teachers were just as exhausted from the week as the students, so there wasn’t a lot of instruction to listen to. They were given classwork, and, once finished, the rest of the time was theirs to spend. 

Shaw chose to complete Chemistry homework so that she didn’t have to worry with it over the weekend. The rest of the gang scrolled social media on their phones and planned out where they were going to have their little ‘celebration’ on Saturday night. 

As the last bell rang, Joss sent out a group message, letting everyone know that they were going to go to Harper’s house at 10 o’clock for the party since her parent’s were going away for their anniversary. 

Root didn’t wait around to walk Shaw to her car, knowing that she would be seeing her in a few short hours, anyways, which gave Shaw the opportunity to set up her plan. She text Reese making sure that she could come by right after school, and when she received an affirmation, set off for her destination. 

She pulled into Root’s driveway right behind Reese, and they walked into the house together. 

“Good afternoon, Reese. Ms. Shaw.” Finch greeted them. 

“Hey, Finch. Shaw was hoping to pick her laptop up today if you’re finished.” 

“Of course, of course. Follow me, Ms. Shaw.” 

She walked behind the short man toward his office, noticing a slight limp in his step. She silently wondered what could have happened to cause that, but social norms told her that it would be rude to ask. 

“I finished the program just this morning,” he began. “It’s quite an advanced code, but if any problems arise, I have installed a few fail-safes.” 

“Cool. Uhm, I really appreciate you doing this.” 

“It was my pleasure.” He smiled, and Shaw noticed that it was a genuine one that reached his eyes, causing them to wrinkle in the corners. 

“Also, if for any reason you feel the need to back out, I have installed what you would call a ‘get out of jail free card’.” Finch informed. 

“Alright. I’m not usually one to change my mind, though. But thanks.” Shaw took her laptop from the man. 

“So, all you have to do is tell her that your computer crashed due to a virus and she should be able to get through.” 

“Got it.” Shaw shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “Well, I better head home to set up. Tonight’s the big night.” 

“Excellent. I’ll try to keep her mother from calling and interrupting.” Harold said as he walked her to the front door. The sound of a shower starting could be heard through the walls. “And I’ll tell Mr. Reese that you said goodbye, as well.”

Shaw nodded on her way out into the afternoon sunlight. “Thanks, again,” She called over her shoulder as she slipped on a pair of sunglasses and fished her car keys out of her pocket. She went straight home to shower and text Root. Her plan was about to be complete. 

 

 

Root (4:34 pm): Hey, gonna be about 30 more minutes and then I can head over…

Shaw (4:41 pm): Ok   
Shaw (4:42 pm): I need your help. My computer crashed or something. 

Root (4:45 pm): No problem. I’ll check it out when I get there. 

Thirty-nine minutes later, Root was tapping on Shaw’s front door. Shaw had showered and was placing things around her living room to make it seem like she hadn’t spent the last half hour stressed out waiting for Root to arrive. 

Shaw opened the door to a grinning Root. _Damn, how does she look so sexy?_

“Hey, Sameen. Miss me?” 

Choosing to ignore the question, Shaw stepped aside to let the other woman in. “So, I think my computer is fucked. Which really sucks, because I had just finished that end of course paper on East of Eden.” 

Root smiled sweetly, knowing that Shaw was deflecting away from her previous question. “Let me take a look.” 

They walked up the stairs, Root following behind for no other reason than to enjoy the view of Shaw’s delectable ass. 

“So exactly how much porn did you watch to crash your laptop?” 

“Wha-- I didn’t watch any-- ugh.. It wasn’t porn.” Shaw should have expected that to be Root’s first thought. 

“What was it then?” 

“Umm, I don’t really know.” Shaw stated, though she knew that her voice wasn’t sounding very confident at the moment. Must have been the nerves of the situation. 

“Mmhmm, it was totally porn,” Root joked, earning a long eyeroll from Shaw. 

They reached her bedroom, and Shaw pointed Root in the direction of her desk, where the laptop sat closed. Root took a seat, opening the lid and attempting to power it on normally. “Well, it isn’t booting up normally, but I’ll take care of it.” 

After a minute or two of Root typing, Shaw stood from her bed and began nervously pacing the floor of her bedroom. 

“It’ll be fine, Shaw. I’ll find your paper. Just give me a few minutes.” 

She nodded back to Root, suddenly much more calm when their eyes met. She knew that this is what she wanted- to make Root feel special, and to give her everything that she could want.

“This will be a piece of cake. I’ll just pick a restore point and get rid of the worm. Do you know how long you’ve had the problem?” 

“Um.. I don’t really..” 

“Huh. Oh, wow.” Root began furiously typing on the computer. Five minutes passed before Root spoke again. “This is the most intelligent code that I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful. Almost poetic,” Root said quietly, mostly to herself. 

The look in her eye was of pure amazement. She wanted to see more of this code. 

Shaw sat back down on her bed, knowing that it would only be a matter of minutes until a message box would appear, asking for a password. It’s exactly what she had planned over a week ago. She just hoped that Root would like it in the end. 

Root kept typing and reading the nonsense characters as they appeared on the screen of Shaw’s old laptop. What was like an alien language to Shaw, Root looked at like an incredible piece of art. 

“Ah.. found a bug. Small one, but noticeable. That should offer me a way to…” She stopped typing suddenly, and tilted her head to the side, puzzled. 

“What is it?” 

“It’s.. it’s asking me for some kind of password to continue. I don’t know. It could be anything.” Root sat, mulling over everything she had typed and read in the minutes prior. “Maybe there was a clue in the code that I missed.” 

“Root.” Shaw stood and said confidently. 

“What?” Root asked, thinking that Shaw was just trying to get her attention. 

“No, type ‘Root’.” 

She met Shaw’s eyes for several seconds, and even though Root’s eyebrows were knotted together in confusion, she typed her own name and hit enter. 

“It worked..” she whispered. 

Shaw nodded, feeling her heart rate increase and blood rush to her cheeks. A minute of typing later, another text box appeared on the screen, which Root read aloud. 

“Do you wish to continue?” 

This must be the back out point that Harold had told her about, just in case things went awry. 

“Type ‘yes’,” Shaw replied, and she watched as Root typed the three letters, followed by the enter key. 

The next box came immediately onto the screen, making a wide, blinding smile appear on Root’s face. She managed to lift her gaze from the words on the computer to meet Shaw’s deep brown eyes. 

Shaw swallowed a nervous lump that had formed in her throat. “I can’t give you that answer. You’ll have to--”

Before she could finish her sentence, Root was out of the desk chair and crashing her lips against Shaw’s. The force of the kiss pushed Shaw backwards, making her knees buckle against the bed. The two toppled onto Shaw’s mattress, never breaking the kiss. 

Root leaned up onto her forearms after a few minutes of intense kissing, gazing at Shaw with some flicker of emotion that made Shaw’s chest feel full- something that she’s never experienced before. 

“You never did answer the question.” Shaw began, breaking the silence while trailing her hand down to Root’s backside. 

“Yes, Sameen. I’d love to go to prom with you.” 

She was pretty sure that was the answer that she was receiving, but hearing the words were still a relief. Shaw craned her neck up to meet Root’s lips, and the two began a slow, sensual kiss. 

After a couple of minutes, the kiss turned hungry. Both were biting at lips and sucking on each others tongues, and soon they were grinding and gasping for air while still fully clothed. The only thing that stopped them was Root leaning up again, unable to contain her blinding smile. 

“I can’t believe you did all of that for me. You’re such a little sneak!” 

“I mean.. It was no big deal.” 

Root gave her a disarming grin while biting her own bottom lip. 

_Oh, this is going to be a fun night._

“Stay with me tonight,” Shaw blurted out. 

Root was slightly taken aback, but schooled her features to reply. “Of course. Are you sure your mom won’t mind?” 

“No. She works overnight shift tonight, and we will be gone before she gets back home.” 

Not sure where exactly they were going the next morning, Root decided to go with it. “Okay. I’ll stay.” 

After a few seconds of silence, she remembered an important stipulation that Harold had given her. Shaw gestured toward the computer, still sitting open and offering the only bit of light in the room. “Oh, um.. You have to actually answer that thing, or I really could be locked out of my computer.” 

“Perfect. I can’t wait to say yes to you again.” 

Shaw rolled her eyes and hopped off of the bed. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be saying yes all night.” 

When Root just chuckled like a kid in a candy store, she decided that it was time for some other form of nourishment. 

“Whatever, nerd. I’m going to start dinner, so come down when you’re done.” 

“Absolutely.”


	30. Take You Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This short chapter is pure smut, showing what happened after the prom-posal. Skip if that's not your thing! 
> 
> This part of the story will be wrapping up in the next few chapters, followed by a few one shots before the sequel!! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads!! I will be answering every single comment left on this chapter! Enjoy :)

“Ohh, yes… Yes, Shaw! Right there!” 

She had a light sheen of sweat coating her forehead, making her bangs stick slightly, and beads of sweat were trickling down her spine. Root was moaning loudly, gasping out Shaw’s name, and saying the filthiest things that Shaw had ever heard Root utter. _Who knew that simply taking control for a few rounds would make Root talk so dirty?_

“Fuck, you eat that pussy so good, Sameen.” 

Root was in heaven. Shaw’s tongue and mouth had done things to her that she had never been able to even achieve herself, much less with anyone else. She had been in this same position for about 15 minutes while Shaw took her time teasing. She would bite at Root’s thigh, suck on Root’s lips, lick at Root’s slit, all agonizingly slowly. 

Now, though, Root’s patience was wearing thin and she couldn’t help but to rock her hips down to Shaw’s waiting mouth. Each of Root’s legs were spread out and straddling Shaw’s face. One hand was reaching up to grope and pinch at Root’s nipple, and the other squeezing and kneading Root’s ass cheek. 

When Root starts rocking her hips harder and gripping fingers into her hair, Shaw knows she’s getting close. She didn’t spend all of this time working her up just to disappoint and deny this orgasm, so Shaw dipped her chin down, moving her tongue from the swollen, throbbing clit and deep into Root’s tight opening. 

“Fucckkkk, Sameen.” Root moaned as a gush of sweet liquid entered Shaw’s mouth. _Yeah, all that fruit she eats really does make the difference._ “I’m close, baby, I’m so close!” 

With her tongue moving in time with Root’s hips, Shaw brought the hand that had been toying with a nipple down to stroke Root’s clit once, twice, three times, and that was all that it took. Root’s thighs were quaking, her head was thrown back, and her inner walls were clenching Shaw’s tongue rhythmically. 

Root rolled from atop Shaw’s face onto her side, attempting to catch her breath. There were two small, dark circles on either side of Shaw’s face where her knees had left sweat behind. _Damn, I need to work out more._

When she looked over to Shaw, the woman was licking her lips with her eyes closed, still enjoying the taste of Root’s sweet release. “Not bad for morning sex,” Shaw teased. 

“Mmhmm. But, does it count as morning sex if I don’t remember stopping to go to sleep?” 

Shaw snorted out a chuckle and rolled onto her side to face the other woman. “Your ass passed smooth out after round three, and I had to carry all of your lanky dead weight up here.”

Root smiled fondly at the woman, remembering as much as she could of the previous night’s activities. After the promposal, Shaw had cooked the two of them a homemade pizza, a fraction of which had only the toppings that she learned Root liked- mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, and cheese. After dinner, Shaw pulled out angel food cake, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream to make them each a dessert. She sat all of the ingredients down onto the table in front of Root as she went to retrieve bowls from the cabinet, and that’s when things got a little out of hand. 

Shaw’s entire chest and abdomen ended up sticky from the whipped cream and adorned with hickeys and bite marks before she was able to get ahold of herself and realize that this was supposed to be ‘Root’s night’. Part one of the plan was the nerdy asking to prom thing. Part two was where Shaw would take control and give Root as much pleasure as she possibly could in one night. 

That’s how Root found herself gasping for air, legs spread wide open, and her ass on the edge of Shaw’s kitchen table as Shaw knelt in front of her on the tiled flooring, face buried between Root’s legs. 

After Root managed to knock a few plates and bowls into the kitchen floor during her climax (thank god none broke, or Shaw’s mom would have been pissed), the two stumbled into the living room, barely making it to the couch before Root shoved Sameen down and climbed atop her lap. Even though Shaw was topping tonight, there was no doubt that Root was still in control. 

She instructed that Shaw use one, and only one, finger on her. She never has been one for the deep and rough type of penetration that Shaw enjoys. With the rule in place, Root rode Shaw’s finger hard to reach her second orgasm of the night. Root was clinging to her with arms encircling her neck as Shaw flipped her onto her back on the couch. Shaw wasn’t done with her, yet. 

They kissed for several minutes while Root recovered from her last release, and only when Root started nibbling at her neck did Shaw know she was ready for more. It was there, one foot propped against the coffee table, the other slung over Shaw’s shoulder, that Root’s memories stop. 

She can remember her body tensing, back arching, Shaw’s tongue eagerly lapping and one middle finger inside of her before everything goes black. She awoke in Shaw’s bed, tucked underneath the blanket, when she turned to the sleeping Shaw, whose hair was damp. The thought that Sameen had showered before getting into bed with her only made her want to dirty up that sexy body again. She lifted herself up to straddle Shaw’s hips and kissed the naked body underneath her until Shaw woke up. It was all Shaw’s idea for Root to proceed to ride her face. 

“Hey, nerd. Snap out of it. We’ve gotta shower and get ready.” 

Root shook her head free of the memories, returning to the present. “You never did tell me where we were going this morning.” 

“And I won't. Geez, Root. It’s like you’ve never even heard of a surprise.” Shaw walked straight out of her room, still naked, toward the bathroom. Root smiled and watched the muscular, retreating form, forcing herself to bite her lip before any lewd noise of appreciation was let out. 

“What are you waiting for, Root?” Shaw shouted from the bathroom after she had turned on the shower to warm up. “Come on! The offer to get me off yourself ends in three.. two.. On---oof.” 

Root had jumped off of the bed and ran towards Shaw’s voice as soon as the countdown started. No way in hell was she going to miss the chance to make Shaw cum. She instantly grabbed the other woman and pulled her in her a heated kiss as they both stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed behind them, never breaking.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing, ever. So, please excuse any mistakes! Feedback is appreciated. I'd like to get better at writing these two amazing characters!


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